Restaurants join forces to save Bristol Bay salmon

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Bristol Bay salmon fisheries are getting support from restaurants in Seattle and Portland. 

Kevin Davis is a chef who fishes. He cares deeply about wild fisheries, so much so that he has lobbied for them in Washington, D.C., and has made sustainability a founding concept for both of his Seattle restaurants, Blueacre Seafood and Steelhead Diner.

Now Davis is part of a national effort by restaurateurs and conservationists trying to stop a proposed mining operation in Southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay, site of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.

The effort is called Savor Bristol Bay. More than 50 restaurants — at least eight of them in Seattle and a handful in Oregon — are hoping to call attention to the issue by offering special meals or menu items using the bay’s freshly caught fish.

Blueacre Seafood will have “The Last Wild Salmon Dinner,” a five-course meal with wine pairings, on July 11. Davis says the name was intended to get people to think about the issue.

“During the wild fish season, we love to use them and eat them,” he said about Bristol Bay salmon, “but the more important thing is what Bristol Bay means to the worldwide food web… It’s truly a renewable and self-replenishing food source. It’s just an amazing resource. We need to be sure it remains unspoiled.”

Portland restaurants participating in Savor Bristol Bay include Bamboo Sushi, which just opened a new location on Northwest 23rd Avenue, Mother's Bistro, Cocotte, Grand Central Bakery and the University Club. A movie event last October in Portland highlighted the links between Bristol Bay fisheries and Oregon.

Read more about Savor Bristol Bay in the Puget Sound Business Journal.