The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) worked with the USDA Agricultural Trade Office, Guangzhou to coordinate a seafood buyers’ mission from South China to Seattle, held prior to the International Boston Seafood Show.  I was invited to meet with these buyers March 8^th, at an event set up by Jim Stone and the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers (ABSC) to highlight the shipment of live crab to Asia from Alaska. Icicle, Trident, Peter Pan Seafoods, Bering Fisheries and numerous ABSC crab vessel harvesters all had representatives at the meeting.

In preparation for the meeting, I bought multiple copies of the just released March 2012 edition of Pacific Fishing Magazine with “Flying crab out of Cold Bay” on the cover. I also had plenty of Cold Bay, Alaska brochures to hand out. The Aleutians East Borough was the only municipal government with a representative at the event.

I was soon told that the main attraction would not be arriving, as they were stuck in Anchorage. Jim Stone had arranged for live crab delivered to Dutch Harbor and flown to Seattle, to be a main course for the lunch. Ironically the logistics of that plan didn’t work out, and the crabs were stuck on the tarmac at Ted Stevens International Airport, possibly underlining the need to ship directly from the fishing grounds, via Cold Bay. Luckily the backup plan of frozen crab was ready for the restaurant O’Asian to serve at the meeting lunch. Both the live crab (attempt) and the backup frozen crab were generously supplied by Bering Fisheries of Dutch Harbor.

On a tight schedule, the Chinese group finally arrived and Jim Stone introduced several representatives of the Chinese buyers group, including Mr. Chen Jimei , President of Fujian Aquatic Products Processing & Marketing Association (FAPPMA). This nonprofit association represents the entire aquaculture industry in the Fujian Province and has over 300 members. Jim then asked the Americans to briefly introduce ourselves, with an interpreter facilitating the intercommunication. At the end of introductions, Jim pivoted back to the AEB, reemphasizing that the AEB is working to make Cold Bay the Alaska Peninsula live crab shipping hub. He then displayed a map of the Pacific Rim, with one line directly from Cold Bay to China. Live crab could leave Cold Bay and enter Guangzhou, China 9 hours later. The Chinese group seemed to understand the message very well.

As all the meeting participants welcomed one another, FAPPMA President Chen Jimei greeted me and offered some fishery literature of the Fujian Province, including an invitation to attend the 7^th annual Fuzhou Fish Expo in September 2012. I traded business cards with all of the Chinese entourage, and soon everyone filled plates with some of the delicious O’Asian Dim Sum specialties and snow crab legs prepared in three different popular Chinese styles. The Chinese seemed grateful to have a relaxed event at this point in their busy trip agenda.

During lunch, I also met with representatives from Aquatic Enterprises, manufacturers of live seafood tanks, and the AEB will be exploring the potential for live crab tanks in Cold Bay. Jim and Mona Stone were great hosts of this lunch event and the overall meeting was a big success. The AEB gained exposure related to the potential of live crab shipments out of Cold Bay and meeting participants gained new personal connections to advance this international seafood commerce. For more information on the initiative to ship live crab from Cold Bay go to www.aebfish.com.

Ernie Weiss, Natural Resources Director

Aleutians East Borough