Chef John Howie unpacks a Skuna Bay salmon at Seastar in Bellevue; pan-roasted salmon filet.
Seattle, we may have a problem.
The fish that defines us, the fish to whom many of us owe our lives and that most of us worship as a deity, the wild-caught Alaska King Salmon, turns out, may not be a unique, invulnerable resource after all.
Vulnerable to environmental vagaries, vulnerable to spontaneous genetic mutations, vulnerable to human predation: the sought-after Alaska King may also be vulnerable to near-perfect impostors. Still of noble birth, to be sure, but no longer wild-caught.
Ironic, isn't it? In order to save and protect the Alaska King, we're being offered a near-perfect, "craft-raised" replica. Still the same fish, but no longer wild. Not quite "farm-raised" in the sense of pen-raised Atlantic salmon fed chicken meal laced with Red Dye No. 2, harvested at two pounds because they've too expensive to feed any longer.
No, these fish are raised by artisan farmers in the icy waters off Vancouver Island, happy fish swimming in the mineral-rich estuary of Gold River, well-fed and raised for over three years, until they weigh ten pounds. The "farmers" live on houseboats surrounded by penned fish (8 days on, 6 days off), and scoop out the fish to order. They're transported to Quadra Island, where another artisan family guts and grades the salmon and packs them in recyclable shipping containers (no styrofoam! no ice!) before sending them off, by truck (eaiser to control the "cold chain," no airplanes!) to customers across the US Mainland.
Skuna Bay, the enterprise behind this painstaking methodology, is a subsidiary of a vast Norwegian holding company, Grieg Seafood, that operates around the world, harvesting some 80,000 tons of seafood a year. The operation in British Columbia is small part of that, but an important one, since it's also a model for the future of sustainable salmon farming.
Skuna Bay employs some 90 people on Vancouver Island and ships two million pounds of Kings to 35 states. In Washington, the company distributes through Ocean Beauty Seafood (itself an enormous outfit that's half-owned by the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp.). So far, they have one supermarket chain as a client (Haggen's / Top Foods, with 23 outlets) and one restaurant customer: John Howie (two Seastars in addition to the steak house in Bellevue). Howie's a thoughtful gent who's very sensitive to sustainability issues as well as good taste, and he's made his choice: "Skuna Bay salmon takes pressure off wild stocks, and deserves a place on our menu." Some of his diners prefer (or think they prefer) wild-caught fish, so he's prepared to offer them side-by-side comparisons. Price-wise, Howie sells "regular" wild Alaska King salmon for about $40 a plate. Ocean Beauty doesn't publish its wholesale price list, but folks in the know say the Skuna Bay product is in the $12 per pound range.
How good is it, though? Is it firm enough? Moist enough? Buttery enough? I think I prefer wild-caught, but the memory of the last Alaska King is six months old by now, and I'm not positive that I could tell the difference in a blind taste test. But if I'm near a Top Food, I'll see what they've got.
Seastar, 208 108th Ave. NE, Bellevue, 425-456-0100 
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