our fish - Nutrition

Nutritional Profile: 
“Shockingly High Levels of Omega-3”!

With the iconic Yukon River king salmon allocated primarily to the subsistence fishery or allowed to escape upriver to spawn, Kwik’pak Fisheries has developed a strong market for Keta (or “chum”) salmon. 

One of five species of Pacific salmon, Keta from the Lower Yukon River have a very different nutritional profile than that of Keta from other river systems.  For one thing, our Keta salmon did not begin their life in a fish hatchery, as is the case with Keta from many other salmon fisheries in the state. Ours is truly one of the last salmon runs that is managed without man-made “enhancement techniques.” Rather, they are truly the wild descendants of the fish that brought the first Yupik people to the area.

Much like the king salmon from the Lower Yukon, Keta have astonishingly high nutritional values. Independent testing from the international laboratory, Bodycote Testing Group Americas (now Exova), showed conclusively that Yukon River salmon in general contain more beneficial Omega-3s than other salmon.  In fact, they can contain from two to four times more Omega-3s than any other fish found in the USDA database.  Testing also found that the Yukon Fall Keta run shows higher amounts of Omega-3 than any other salmon or seafood in the world.

To verify and comment on the Bodycote results, Kwik’pak Fisheries contacted a nationally respected dietitian with an expertise in seafood, Dr. Evette Hackman, from Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, WA. Dr. Hackman reported being so surprised that she contacted the testing laboratory herself.  She learned that the published results were indeed accurate. 

“I was shocked. We don’t usually think of [Keta] salmon as being such a good source of Omega-3s, but when you look at the red meat color and cook and taste this fish, it’s no surprise.  It’s wonderful when something so good for you can be so delicious.” Dr. Evette Hackman

To put these testing results in perspective,  one 3.5-oz. serving (100 grams) of our Yukon River Keta or king salmon per week would equal, from an Omega-3 perspective, three servings of other salmon or 10 – 1000 mg fish oil capsules!