Costco, Orca Bay buying more Russian sockeye than ever

For decades the sockeye salmon has been sold to the United States, Canada, and the European and Asian markets primarily by companies buying their product from Alaska. But with growing demand, especially for frozen fillets, buyers, sellers and processors are turning to Russia to fill the void.

Ryan Mackey, president of Orca Bay Seafoods, told IntraFish Wednesday the company bought more sockeye salmon this year than it had ever and a third of that total came from Russia.

“It’s a limited resource business and we do sockeye like we do everything else, try to get the best product possible,” Mackey said.

The