Sitka

Sitka sits on the outer coast of Baranof Island in Southeast Alaska, surrounded by the protected waters of Sitka Sound and Chichagof. The fleet here is small-boat by tradition — mostly trollers, longliners, and seiners working summer king and coho salmon, halibut, lingcod, sablefish, and rockfish. Salmon trolling is one-fish-at-a-time, hook-and-line gear, which is why Southeast salmon command a quality premium that no industrial fleet can match.

Sitka is also where the modern community-supported fishery (CSF) model in the United States got its footing. Sitka Salmon Shares — the program Pacific Cloud's founder Ryan Horwath spent years working with — built the playbook that connects independent boats to direct-buying households across the lower 48.

The fish that come out of these waters arrive at port still rigid with rigor mortis from on-deck bleeding and chilling. That's the gold standard.