Kenai is a tiny town on the shores of Cook Inlet. Driving there from Anchorage takes five hours, and with some luck you might see a few other cars along the way. Kalifornsky beach, from which the fishing is conducted, is dotted with small boats of 5 meters long at most. In wintertime all is quiet, but once the fishing season gets underway in the summer, the seasonal fishermen come to the beach with their campers and things start to lively up. It's a wonderful scene at night after a long day's work, when all the fishermen gather around camp fires to talk. Usually it's about the day's catch. “Who caught the largest salmon, and how much did we earn today?”

The splendid red salmon that is caught during the few months of summer has found its way back to Kenai River, the place where the fish hatched from egg some five years before. This wild salmon's diet consists exclusively of plankton, so it actually qualifies as a vegetarian fish. But the plankton is home to tiny little shrimps which give the fish its marvellous red colour. The salmon only eats in salt water, and once it has consumed all it needs, it finds its way back to the river. As soon as sufficient numbers of salmon have travelled upstream, the fishermen get the go-ahead.

During the season, the fishermen take the boats out to sea twice a week to set up their nets. They may not and should not go out more frequently, as this ensures that the fish stock remains at optimal levels. A few hours later, when the tide has gone out, the fishermen pull up the fish and process them as rapidly as possible. Each boat has three fishermen that treat the fish with utmost care to fully preserve its quality. Shaved ice brings the fish to 1 degree Celsius immediately after the catch, ensuring that the product is of the very best quality.

By: Bart van Olphen
On 20 July 2009 I talk to Randy Meier, fisherman on the beach at Kenai.

Bart: “Have you been a fisherman all your life?”
Randy: “I have been a fisherman for quite a few years now, but for just a few months each year. I started my own fish company in the area of Kenai 13 years ago, and nowadays I trade my fish on the west coast of America and since recently with Fishes in Europe. In summertime the company employs some fifteen men and women. As soon as the season is over I return to Anchorage, where I work as a high school physical education instructor.”

Bart: “Can you describe a typical fishing day?”
Randy: “After breakfast we walk to the beach where all the nets are stored. Every boat has a license to set up three nets of 65 meters long. The nets are set up when the tide is out, and then we return to the beach. Then the tide comes in and water levels rise, and once they recede again we go out to collect the fish. We do this twice on a 'fishing day'. We fish at no more than 500 metres from shore, and per day we catch an average of 1500 kilos of fish. The state of Alaska has determined that we can do this twice a week, 6 to 8 weeks a year. You can image what the financial impact is of having a poor fishing day."

Bart: “Is it hard to find good and experienced fishermen for your company?”
Randy: “Very hard. They often don't realize how hard the work is, certainly on days when the weather is bad. Setting up nets and bringing them back in when they're loaded with fish is a strenuous job. And on days that we don't fish we work hard all the same, for example repairing the nets and boats. We have to be ready to go out for the next catch at any time!"

Bart: “How do you like your Sockeye salmon?”
Randy:“I like Sockeye in lots of different ways. The salmon gets really tasty if you smoke it in a small smoke oven. We started doing that 10 years ago, and now we hear that Fishes also smokes our salmon according to authentic techniques. It gives the flesh a wonderfully soft texture and a very fine flavour. It's great on toast with a little bit of lemon juice and pepper."

NRC 2007
"Zalm uit Alaska, zoiets heb je nog nooit gegeten"

Best Life
"Bescherm je bloedvaten en stimuleer je brein"

HP De Tijd, 2008
"Het betere blik"