For ten years, Food Share of Lincoln County prepared hatchery salmon and shared roughly 2,000 pounds of the high-protein fish annually with community food pantries throughout the coastal area. The salmon, which had been plentiful in community food pantries, was no longer available on pantry shelves when the charity organization discovered in 2018 that it would no longer be allowed to prepare the fish because of laws controlling safe food handling.
Now, 3,020 pounds of hatchery salmon were recently given to the community by a creative nonprofit organization created to support local food processors. The endeavor was so successful that a grant funding request was not only fulfilled but surpassed.
Nancy Mitchell, executive director of Food Share of Lincoln County, stated, “We have been trying for years to figure out how we can recapture the donated fish.” Groups have attempted to accomplish this kind of thing over the years, but it has never been successful. That’s what makes this so amazing. This is a precious resource that was lost and has since been found again. That really makes a difference in these times.
When Food Share discovered it could no longer handle the fish six years ago, Mitchell turned to the community for assistance. A seafood processor made an effort to assist, but the agency was left to handle the packing and shipment after the commercial fleet’s catch was processed and the salmon was returned to Food Share in bulk in a box. But that was also prohibited by safe food regulations. The charity organization decided to forgo the salmon. They were unaware that businesswoman Laura Anderson was developing the exact strategy that would benefit them.
In 2021, Anderson established the Yaquina Lab with the goal of giving small seafood processors access to the equipment they need to launch or test their business ideas without having to shell out a considerable sum. In order to oversee the Newport bayfront facility, she founded the charity Central Coast Food Web a year later. Its goal is to make it easy for everyone to eat locally by supporting small, independent food producers and strengthening our local, coastal, and regional food systems. Her concept has thus been a resounding success.
However, it turned out that Anderson’s vision was not entirely fulfilled.
According to Anderson, the founder and previous proprietor of the now employee-owned Local Ocean restaurant, “what happened was that we built a board of directors that really broadened our vision, including opening it to farmers.” According to a few of our board members, we ought to provide food for the underprivileged in our neighborhood. Our most underprivileged citizens should be the ones we serve. That’s fantastic, but I don’t know how we’re going to accomplish that, I added.
The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians were processing hatchery fish at the Food Web, and there was at least a portion of the solution there. According to Anderson, it was a natural fit. Other than the facility, they didn’t require anything else from us. Intergenerational tribal people helped chop the fish and put it in the freezer when they delivered it. And as a sort of supplement to that, they brought five tribal high school students to engage in experiential learning, knowledge transfer, and hands-on intergenerational learning.
According to Patrick Clarke, director of the culinary program at Siletz Valley School, the fish that the tribe processes is utilized for school cafeteria lunches and given to the tribe for additional uses.
Jim King, the new director of the Food Web, was moved by the tribe’s efforts and asked Mitchell if the hatchery fish would be useful for the food pantry. Mitchell had, of course, been waiting years for someone like King.
A Food Share crew visited the fish River Hatchery in Otis a few weeks later and harvested 151 Chinook fish. The fish helped the Siletz tribe, the Oregon Coast Visitor’s Association’s Seafood Butchery program in five coastal schools, and Food Share, which provided 1,288 dinners to local food banks. Beginning in April of last year, the butchery program is anticipated to spread to up to ten schools in the upcoming year. The curriculum teaches students how to prepare and cook a variety of seafood, which they can then consume or, in certain situations, take home.
Clarke prefers to refer to the program at the Siletz Valley Schools as Seafood Literacy.
Clarke stated, “It’s so much more than just butchery.” I get the fish, the money to prepare it, and the narrative to help the children relate to it all from the Oregon Coast Visitors Association. With all of the fish, we are using traditional procedures, including cooking and preservation techniques that have historical significance. We offer a comprehensive culinary education with multiple tiers up to high school, beginning in middle school. They receive both traditional Native practices and French culinary education.
Program leader Maggie Michaels believes it makes perfect sense for a visitors association to promote seafood butchery, despite the fact that it may appear like a strange organization to do so.
According to Michaels, the visitors organization is taking this action because of the massive influx of tourist monies, especially to the shore. Additionally, we must consider ensuring that we have enough filleters if we want both our visitors and local residents to find and purchase more Oregon fish. Additionally, we must consider housing. Tourism is not distinct from any of these factors. In actuality, they are all really related.
According to Michelle Viss, supervisor of the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife’s fish River Hatchery in Otis, the practice of using hatchery fish to feed the underprivileged is not new and has been practiced throughout the state for many years. The state fish and wildlife agency is in charge of running state hatchery fisheries. The fish are used for recreational fishing as well as other programs. According to Viss, fish that are not given to community organizations—which need to be approved by the Oregon Food Bank—are put back into the water as stream enrichment to feed other wildlife.
Since 2009, fish from the Nehalem Bay Fish Hatchery have been processed by The Smiley Salmon Harvest, formerly Smiley Brothers, in Tillamook. With this year’s hatchery harvest, about 11,000 salmon have been handled during the previous 15 years. Salmon is given to food pantries, senior meal programs, and school backpack programs in the form of canned or frozen salmon.
The hatchery salmon pilot program in Lincoln County seems to be just getting started.
According to King, the Central Coast Food Web received a grant of $90,000 for three years after requesting $43,000 from the Roundhouse Foundation to extend the program with both Food Share and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians for an additional year.
It marks the conclusion of a six-year search for Mitchell.
“Our resources are sometimes limited here on the coast,” she remarked. This is our chance to demonstrate that when we work together and put our minds together, we can truly create something significant; that we are capable of being creative and genuinely caring for our community.
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For The Oregonian/OregonLive, Lori Tobias
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