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King crab is synonymous with Alaska, where the fishery developed in the years following World War II. Red king crab, the biggest and best king crab, can reach a weight of more than 20 pounds and have a leg span of more than five feet. In Alaska, red king crab are fished from October until January in the waters of Bristol Bay, a huge arm of the eastern Bering Sea.

King crab are caught using large pots. This environmentally-friendly fishing method produces very little bycatch and has minimal impact on the ocean bottom.

After our king crab are caught, they are cleaned and the sections are immediately brine cooked and frozen on board in our modern processing plant.

We fish the two premium species of the snow crab family in the cold, clean waters of the Bering Sea. The largest fishery is for the opilio snow crab, the same species that is fished in both the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. These crab reach a size of about 1.5 to 2 pounds, yielding clusters that average 7 to 8 ounces apiece. Bairdi, the largest species of snow crab, is fished only in the North Pacific. Also called “tanner” crab, bairdi average about 3 pounds and yield clusters that average 10 to 12 ounces each. Like king crab, snow crab are fished with large pots. Because they produce almost zero bycatch and have minimal impact on the bottom, this method of fishing is considered environmentally friendly.

Our two catcher-processors, the Baranof and the Courageous, catch more than one million pounds of snow crab each season. The snow crab fishery is open from October to May, with the bulk of the catch coming from February to April.

Long prized by seafood lovers in Japan, sablefish, which are also called black cod or butterfish, are quickly catching on in North America and Europe, too. The rich, buttery taste and pearly white meat put sablefish in a culinary class by itself. And there’s no better sablefish than ours, which is frozen at sea by our own catcher processors.

Although they are called black cod, sablefish are not related to cod. They belong to the Anoplopomatidae family, which includes only sablefish and skillfish. A deep water fish, sablefish are found at depths of up to 1,500 meters from central Baja California to the eastern Bering Sea.

Off Alaska, where more than 80 percent of the commercial black cod catch is landed, sablefish are fished with hook-and-line and long line pot gear, environmentally friendly fishing methods. Healthy and sustainable, Alaska’s sablefish fishery is currently under final review for certification by the Marine Stewardship Council.

The waters of the Bering Sea are home to the only cod fishery in the world that has been certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. Our two catcher processors, the Baranof and the Courageous, participate in the MSC-certified Bering Sea longline cod fishery. Although Pacific cod, which are also called grey cod or true cod, are found throughout the North Pacific, the largest concentrations of stocks are in the waters of the Bering Sea, where Alaska fishermen catch more than 400 million pounds a year.

Each year, our cather processors land approximately 7 million pounds of Pacific cod. Each fish is caught by hook-and-line, landed alive, and thoroughly bled before processing, ensuring that the flesh is snow white. Immediately after processing, our cod are flash frozen, sealing all the fresh, natural flavor inside.