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Econ 919 — Using every part of the fish

Courtesy of Sara Erickson

Fish skin is hardly a hot commodity. Processors like Kenai’s Pacific Star Seafoods usually grind up and discard the stuff once they’ve separated it from the meaty goodness that goes to market.

But these days, Pacfic Star is selling more than 3,600 pounds of cod and halibut skin to Sara Erickson, owner of the dog treat business AlaSkins. Erickson orders another 2,550 pounds of skin from Icicle Seafoods in Seward and 300 pounds each from 10th and M and Cooper River Seafoods in Anchorage.

Erickson has been making and selling treats out of dehydrated fish skins for AlaSkins — that’s “skins” with an “I,” not “A” — for over three years. This year, she opened a storefront in Soldotna. At the store, Erickson also sells Ruffwear gear for dogs, merch for humans and local art.

Fish have been a big part of Erickson’s life for a long time. She grew up in Newhalen [on Lake Iliamna, commercial fishing in Bristol Bay and Cook Inlet.

“When we would deliver our fish to the processing plant, a big part of that processing facility was to skin the fish for canning, for canned salmon," she said. "Basically, I saw that growing up, and just thought, ‘Man, what are they doing with all the skin?’ And my dad was a huge believer of using the whole fish and how healthy it was and always preached to us the benefits of Alaska seafood.”

Skins carry nutritious oils and vitamins but many plants dump them when packaging filets for distributors.

As a girl, Erickson thought she might one day figure out a way to turn those skins into something useful. The idea stuck with her when her family moved to the peninsula in 1972 and again in 2016, when she started brainstorming fish skin dog treats with a friend who worked at a processing plant.

That friend moved to the East Coast a year later, so Erickson took up the venture on her own and gave it its name. She started selling online to customers and through wholesale to local stores like Three Bears and Mill and Feed.

“And then I decided this year — the craziest of years — to open a store, June 1, here in Soldotna," she said. "An actual brick-and-mortar store. I didn’t realize how bad COVID would be when I decided to do that.”

Erickson committed to opening the store in March and decided to see it through when summer came. On Wednesdays, she took her wares to the market in Soldotna.

“Frankly, I was surprised at the support Alaskans — you know, the people here that live here — fell in love with our product," she said. "And I think it’s because we’re kind of snobbish about our seafood and we know the value of our fish and how great it is that Alaskans themselves became huge fans of it. So it’s just been really fun, and not what I expected, I kind of thought I would hit the tourists.”

The pet treat business in the U.S. is a multibillion-dollar industry. But there aren’t a whole lot of vendors doing exactly what Erickson’s doing. Polkadog in Massachusetts uses wild cod skin for some of their treats and there are a few Alaksans who are making similar treats on a smaller scale. Most other fish dog treats out there are from farmed fish, Erickson said.

Local processors have gotten a sweet deal out of their partnership with Erickson, too. Nate Berga is plant manager for Pacific Star Seafoods. He said he’s excited that his company can sell skins that it would otherwise discard.

“Some of it we can sell, but not all of it," he said. "So her stepping up and wanting to buy some was actually great for our business.”

Erickson uses salmon, cod and halibut to make treats. But this year, COVID-19 shut down a lot of salmon plants.

“So I wasn’t able to get any skins for salmon. So that was a huge disappointment," she said.

Instead, she relied on cod and halibut.

Erickson makes her treats in-house. As in, her house, in the garage. She makes sure all the meat is off the skin and hand rolls the skin into treats.

Like her dad, she believes in using every part of the fish. She repurposes the extra meat on the skin for canned cat food.

Erickson also has four commercial dehydrators. She said she hopes to buy a processing plant at some point but it’s not something she can afford right now. She hopes to hire more employees, too. Right now, she has two staff.

It’s been a tough season for a lot of brick-and-mortar store owners, and an even tougher year to open a new store. But Erickson said her store’s good location helps — they’re on the Sterling Highway, next to Don Jose’s.

Plus, she’s now sponsoring Iditarod musher Ryne Olson. She’s also giving gift baskets to the winners of the Copper Basin 300 Dog Race in Glennallen this January.

“If I survived this year, it can only get better," she said. "So I’m all in. I’m going full guns and just trying to stay on top of it. And so I don’t have any plans to retreat at this point.”

AlaSkins is one of the dozens of businesses participating in Soldotna’s Holding Our Own shop local program, until Dec. 16. For more, visit AlaSkins.com.

Sabine Poux is a producer and reporter for the Brave Little State podcast of Vermont Public. She was formerly news director and evening news host at KDLL in Kenai.

Originally from New York, Sabine has lived and reported in Argentina and Vermont and Kenai.
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