Shoreline Wild Salmon co-founder Marie Rose is feeling like a small fish in a big pond after the Southeast Alaska-based company was recently included in Good Housekeeping’s 10 Best Seafood Delivery Services & Subscriptions of 2023 list.
“A lot of the companies on the top 10 list are really big companies, we’re quite small in comparison, so to know that our products are making the ranks with theirs is really exciting,” Rose said. “It feels really great to have been included, we’ve worked really hard over the years to try to establish this online store through our website.”
Shoreline Wild Salmon co-founder Marie Rose pulls in a salmon with the company’s applied single hook and line method, also referred as trolling, on board the TommyL II. (Courtesy Photo / Joe Emerson)
Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab recently conducted a review of over 40 popular seafood and meat delivery services over the course of three months to find what they considered to be the best of the best available and Shoreline Wild Salmon locked down the No. 9 spot on their list.
Testers with Good Housekeeping reported within the article, “the fish arrived fresh, and the portions were large and left my family feeling satisfied.”
Another tester added: “It was fun to try a new dish, and it was enjoyed by everyone. The fish was delicious and the texture and color were perfection!”
In addition to Rose, Shoreline was founded in 2016 by fishermen Captains Joe Emerson and Keith Heller. The company prides itself on fishing the “old-school way” meaning they only use a single hook and line, also known as trolling, which Rose explained is the best way to ensure their company can pull fish from the water one at a time.
“We’re not catching large volumes, we’re really more quality-focused than quantity-focused and by doing so, we’re able to handle all of these salmon one at a time,” Rose said. “As soon as they’re brought aboard the boat they’re immediately cleaned and pressure bled and packed into ice. So, catching them one at a time allows you to take a lot of steps to really produce the highest quality possible of Alaska salmon.”
TommyL II sails the open waters of Alaska in search of wild salmon for the Southeast Alaska based company Shoreline Wild Salmon, which was recently recognized for its excellence in quality by Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab. (Courtesy Photo / Joe Emerson)
Rose said once the fish are fileted and packaged in Southeast Alaska, the fish then stay frozen until the consumer thaws the fish and prepares it for a meal. Subscribers can select a la carte or subscription boxes that include 5 pounds or 10 pounds of fish to be delivered monthly. Current monthly subscription choices can be found on their website at shorelinewildsalmon.com.
Born and raised in Michigan, Rose explained she, Heller and Emerson came together with the idea of taking troll caught fish to consumers throughout the United States. At first they started by working at farmer’s markets in the Detroit and Ann Arbor area. From there Rose said the trio started making connections with various grocery store owners and started wholesaling their product.
In addition to serving Rainbow Foods in Juneau as well as Mountain Market in Haines, Shoreline also supplies over 60 grocery stores and restaurants within the state of Michigan, as well as various locations in Ohio, Minnesota and one in Mexico, according to Rose. Rose added that the online, direct-to-consumer aspect of the company didn’t start until the later half of 2020, and business has been on the steady rise ever since.
Shoreline Wild Salmon staff Adrienne Antoni poses with wild salmon caught individually for the day aboard the TommyL II. (Courtesy Photo / Joe Emerson)
When Rose first moved to Alaska from Michigan, she was working for salmon-advocacy nonprofit Salmon Beyond Borders, but shortly thereafter transitioned into working with Heller and Emerson to collaborate on the beginnings of what would become Shoreline Wild Salmon. Each person’s role has evolved over the years, but Rose said if she were to describe them now, Emerson is their main fisherman that the company buys from, Heller handles a lot of the offloading, as well as operations in Pelican, while Rose handles the bulk of the business operations and marketing.
Emerson said that one of the aspects within their company that he’s particularly proud of is that, from owner to staff, Shoreline Wild Salmon is largely operated by a crew of women. Additionally, Emerson said he’s proud to say they make it a point of employing local high school aged youth to work as deckhands aboard Emerson’s boat, the TommyL II.
Rise Fraley, a freshman at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé, with Joe Emerson pose for a photo on board the TommyL II with a recently caught fish. Shoreline makes it a point of employing local youth as deckhands as often as possible. (Courtesy Photo / Joe Emerson)
Emerson also added that he’s grateful that Good Housekeeping recognized the quality of fish that Shoreline is producing because it takes a lot of extra effort on Shoreline’s part to produce in the specific way that they do.
“Our mission has really been to produce the highest quality salmon possible, and we spend a lot of time and effort to make that happen,” Emerson said. “We basically try to produce a fish that we would give to our own family; we just want it to be as good as it can possibly be because we truly consider it a privilege to be able to harvest these fish and to be out on the ocean and interact with all of the sealife and the whole ecosystem. We just believe that it’s part of the responsibility of harvesting fish to take care of the product as best as we possibly can, it’s been our mission from day one.”
• Contact reporter Jonson Kuhn at jonson.kuhn@juneauempire.com.
