Our story
Cama’i! Welcome!
Yup’ik Girl Seafood started back in 2016, but you could say catching wild Bristol Bay Sockeye has been in Casey’s blood for millennia. Being Yup’ik, Indigenous to Southwest Alaska, Casey has followed in her ancestor’s boot steps and continues to fish her family’s Bristol Bay drift permit after inheriting it from her late grandfather, Willie Coupchiak. Willie, being born “up river” on the Togiak, used to fish Bristol Bay in a sailboat and was a great self made mechanic in our village.
Growing up subsistence fishing and learning to gather wild berries, wild bird eggs, harvest clams, etc. from her grandmother, Mary, Casey has always expressed a need for premium quality in all natural things, especially wild salmon. Mary, originally from Clarks Point, grew up in Aleknagik and was a talented basket weaver and overall amazing creator of Indigenous artifacts. She filled her pantry with subsistence gathered food that sustained her large family through the long winters.
We have a philosophy of qigcikiyaraq, which best translates to english as “feeling of respect” for salmon — salmon deserve to be appreciated and they can only be fully appreciated if they are served well taken care of from a source that doesn’t do damage to the environment. That means wild-caught and handled to preserve the salmon’s best taste and texture.
Our goals
We are a small boat operation. We are woman and Indigenous owned. We take pride in knowing where our wild salmon comes from and knowing where it’s been. Which is why each salmon is handled with care having quality in mind. During the months of June, July, and August, when the salmon are returning to their spawning grounds, we set out and harvest these protein packed fish.
The fish are wild-caught and hand picked from a drift gill net in Bristol Bay. When the salmon come aboard we bleed each fish to prevent bruising of the meat, adding to quality. Furthermore, our fish is placed in the boat’s holds with refrigerated sea water and chilled to 34 degrees F while we fill the rest of the boat’s holds.
We deliver our catch, within hours of being caught, to a small custom processor. There our wild salmon is hand-filleted, vacuum sealed, and blast frozen to preserve freshness and taste. It is the highest quality of premium wild Alaskan salmon on the market. Our Sockeye is shipped south to Seattle where we pick it up and distribute from there. Straight from our home to yours.
We are confident that you’ll love our wild Bristol Bay Sockeye and its benefits, the same fish that has been sustaining our villages and families for time immemorial.
