On June 22, a planeload of fresh Dungeness crab flew from Haines to Washington state, destined for dinner plates throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Local, fresh Dungeness crabs are finding their way to market thanks to a new partnership between Whole Foods Market and Haines Packing Co.
Whole Foods Market is a natural and organic foods retailer, with stores throughout the United States. The company also has a substantial seafood retail department, with fresh seafood counters in most of its stores.
Hugh Rietz of Haines Packing Co. said the partnership came out of the fact that there is crab supply in Haines that could sell well on the market. Locally, there are six Dungeness crab permit holders, said Rietz, and five of them are trying to supply crab for the venture. The packing company will keep the crab live and facilitate their shipment to Washington.
Rietz worked with Eydfinn Tausen, facility team leader at Select Fish Whole Foods Market in Seattle. Tausen has visited Haines and Haines Packing Co. and was interested in trying to get the Haines crab for market, but cautioned the success of the partnership “remains to be seen.”
“We know that Haines has not had much access to the fresh market,” he said.
Tausen said the major factors are supply and size. He said the bigger Dungeness sell better, and Haines-area crab tends to be bigger than most. But he also has to balance supply from Haines with that of other areas, he said.
On the upside, Tausen said the crab prices are now much higher than in previous years.
Logistically, the partnership relies on having enough supply – 4,000 pounds – to fill the turbo-prop jet that will arrive in Haines from Washington about once a week to get the crab. Rietz and Tausen said if there is less crab, other fresh seafood, like sockeye salmon, can be substituted to meet the 4,000-pound quota.
To offset fuel prices, Rietz and Jill Atlas worked with Whole Foods to bring in shipments of fresh produce on the empty planes. Atlas is coordinating the produce side of the operation, taking orders for items from individuals and also selling some at the retail space at Haines Packing Co.
Atlas said she doesn’t think the offerings will negatively impact local stores’ produce sales since the Whole Foods shipments are sporadic and only when crab is available to ship out, and only for the season.
Rietz and Tausen are cautiously optimistic of the retail crab partnership and are trying to take things slow to see how supply and shipping settle out.
“We have to kind of play it by ear,” Reitz said.
Local crab fishermen, like Reed Barber, said the venture is “fantastic.”
“I’m really excited,” Barber said. “It’s great to have a cannery to buy some volume of crab.”
Tausen said he is anxious to inspect the first shipment of crab and see how well they sell. He hopes that throwing the resources of Whole Foods Market behind the effort will make it successful.
“We’re a fairly good-sized company and we make sure we do things right,” Tausen said.