Right now, Alaska salmon is perfectly poised to grab some huge market share from America's favorite fish, canned tuna. For years, it's been under the radar, but now the tuna industry is under siege over the high levels of mercury in its canned pack. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that, like lead, can damage the brains and nervous systems of fetuses and young children.
StarKist, BumbleBee and Chicken of the Sea, the three principal U.S. tuna manufacturers, sold about 2.3 billion six-ounce cans of tuna last year. But retail sales have dropped by about 10 percent in the U.S. in the past decade, due in part to public concern about mercury. This year the FDA is preparing its first labeling requirements warning consumers about the health risks of eating canned tuna.
Americans each year are eating more seafood; per capita consumption last year rose to 15.6 pounds, up from 14.8 pounds the year before. Salmon ranks as the No. 3 most popular seafood on the government's top ten list.
In contrast, Alaska salmon showed the lowest mercury levels of any fish.
Gov. Frank Murkowski has slapped upwards of $60 million on the table to make sure that message (and all the others) gets to the masses. Many of Alaska's major seafood companies - NorQuest, Peter Pan, Icicle, and Ocean Beauty Seafoods - will spend millions on national promotional blitzes for skinless/boneless salmon in cans and pouches, and new flaked salmon products.
Source: Alaska Journal