EP88: From Sea to Table The Story of Sena Sea with Sena Wheeler

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I'm really excited today because we've already kicked off season four, but we have a special surprise for you.

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We have a brand new co-host, chef Steven is part of our team now, and I'm really excited to introduce you to him, but I thought it'd be better for him to introduce himself.

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So Chef Steven, take it away.

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Of course.

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Thanks so much, Michael.

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I'm so excited to be here.

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Listen to Michael's.

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A few podcasts, and then I was super inspired by the conversations.

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A little bit about myself is that I was raised in the Bay Area in California and then my, my, my career actually started in Las Vegas from culinary school to five star hotels.

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Buffet and small restaurants.

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You can name it big and small, quick service, fine dining.

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And so I worked the career ladder up and very excited to highlight my career two star Michellin Restaurant at Caesars Palace is named Guy Savoy, so a world renowned chef.

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And then through my career I learned different aspects of management and different type of recipes and different type of equipment because there's a different.

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Volume for different operations.

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Recently I left a job at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas as the executive sous chef.

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And then now I'm doing a lot of recipe consulting, a lot of community food related events.

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Mostly, you know, networking as well from business owners to supply owners like today's guests.

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So I'm very excited to be here again.

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Fantastic, Steven.

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Thank you.

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So we're gonna kick it off.

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I'm very excited too because I love and obsess about seafood.

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So we have a very special guest here today.

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Sena Wheeler is a fifth generation fishermen and co-founder of Sena Sea, A company delivering wild Alaska seafood directly to your door.

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With a master's degree in nutrition and food science, she has passion about sustainability, healthy eating, and the brain boosting benefits of wild fish.

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That's amazing.

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Yeah.

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Sena and her husband run their family business while splitting time between Alaska and cheering on their kids at school Sports.

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Always with fresh fish on the table.

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Sena, welcome to the show.

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Thanks so much for having me.

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This is fun.

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I am so excited, and I know Chef Steven is too.

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We've talked behind the scenes for a while about this, and can you take us back to the beginning?

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How did Sena Sea come to life and what sparked your mission to bring Wild Alaska seafood straight to customers?

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When you hear sort of, I, I do have a master's in food science.

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And I studied fish.

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In particular and quality aspects and handling onboard handling techniques.

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And my husband is, has been a commercial fisherman for 25 years.

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So it sounds like we had a great plan, but it was much more.

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Organic than that.

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I think sometimes you just don't realize where everything is leading.

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So I had been working for a national food company and then ended up staying home with our three kids and we were on a long road trip.

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That's when sort of the magic happen.

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Wow.

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You're talking, we're on a a six hour, nine hour road trip actually.

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Okay.

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And my husband was on the.

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He had just started doing fishing for Copper River Salmon.

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So we've always long lined for black cot and halibut.

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Wow.

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But he's doing this, really this Copper River salmon, which is amazing.

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And he is, was on the the marketing board.

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The marketing association.

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So he's talking to me and, I kind of start going you should do this and you should do that.

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You guys should market it like grass fed beef and you should do this and you should be talking about that.

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And he just finally looks over at me and goes.

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You should.

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Yeah.

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I was like, what?

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No, you should.

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And he is no, you should sell my fish.

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I love it.

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Oh, I love it.

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'cause he's already

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doing, I'd already been I'm also kind of going, you should handle it like this and you should do this on board.

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And he was like.

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I'm catching the very best fish on the planet and doing all of the premium handling techniques.

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I mean, we have the best fish.

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We know that.

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Nobody else knows that you should sell it.

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And so by the time we got to Thanksgiving, we told everybody we're starting business and it's called Sena Sea.

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Oh my gosh.

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And then the crazy thing is we did, yeah.

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You know, that's the hard part, but we just went for it.

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Wow.

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I mean, it's an incredible story, right?

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And fifth generation.

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So how does fifth generation come into play?

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Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

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So my my dad was a fisherman.

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I grew up in the lifestyle.

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We grew up in the Seattle area and all my uncles fished my grandfather fished.

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So my, my grandfather.

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Immigrated from Norway and along with a lot of his brothers and even each one came over, they'd get a boat.

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So they kind of fished in a big group of each guy, each brother having a boat.

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So for me it's very very much a part of our upbringing with my grandpa fishing and my uncles fishing and my dad.

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And so that's, we used to call ourselves third generation'cause those are the generations I'm thinking of right now.

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Right.

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His

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grandfather immigrated from Norway where he learned to fish from his father and so on.

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And so I have this great, when I started looking into the history, I have this great obituary from his father talking about learning commercial fishing and being a leader in the industry and learning from his father.

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So I was like, oh, I need to tax him on.

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My parents said, you know, it's probably more like 300 generations.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Wow.

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That's amazing.

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So you're very passionate about this from meeting you from, everything I see online.

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I've listened to a couple podcasts where you tell your story and to me, connection is clearly at the heart of your brand.

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Absolutely.

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The ocean, the family food.

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But how do you bring that story to life for your customers?

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I think that's been kind of the fun part of just starting the business because I didn't know, I didn't know what it would take.

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I didn't know how much of ourselves we would be able to put into it.

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And it's, I, it's the age we live in, right?

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With the internet and and we have the email list and all the things.

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And when we started you know, if I'd done it.

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50 years ago I would have a little fish shop or something.

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But this is the age of the internet and it's amazing For sure.

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It's just cool to kind of ride the wave on.

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Connection and how you can do things.

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I, never considered myself a writer before owning a business.

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You know, I wouldn't even write in birthday cards.

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I didn't really like to, but you have to write.

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I mean, if you own a small business, you're, you know, we write emails, we're writing project product descriptions and things like that, so I have.

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Really leaned into, for me it's the email list is where we, really connect.

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I write emails and that's a place where I'm have grown comfortable.

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Okay.

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Speaking, being authentic and talking about what's going on.

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And it's been fun.

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It's even a little surprising for me sometimes to see what comes out and we have a lot of customers who have been along the journey and you know, they've kind of gotten to know our family and kind of what we're about, which has been really cool.

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Oh my gosh.

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I love that it's such a personal story.

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And it's fun to be able to make it personal.

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I, would, you know, to kind of have that permission to go there.

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And I think because our customers have been involved for a long time and it started really small and we kind of knew everybody that it made it okay.

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It would be hard to go personal, you know, if we hadn't started that way.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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Has any customer ever give any feedback, like kind of reminded you why you started this whole business?

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We get some really amazing reviews and emails and stuff, and it does make a big difference.

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I mean, when somebody just.

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When they get their box and just say, oh my gosh, it, it arrived perfectly.

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I cooked it up tonight.

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You know, I loved it so much.

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Yeah.

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That, yeah, that connection.

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Yeah.

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It really makes you feel like, oh, that's exactly, that's why I'm doing this.

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But we get some reviews that talk about, it'll talk about the first time they ever had Copper River salmon or a certain type of fish, and that experience, they can recall vividly.

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Or I visited friends in Alaska and I had this fish and it was the best I've ever had.

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And your fish brings back that experience.

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So when people.

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Share their memories of those, really special moments.

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That makes me feel like, yeah, that's why we're doing this.

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That's awesome.

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It's so cool.

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I mean, I know how passionate Chef Steven is about it because we've had conversations and I, interviewed him on Clubhouse a couple years ago and it was amazing.

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And to listen to him.

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It's very similar, like I have that same passion.

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I came from the restaurant business and so my passion for hospitality goes above and beyond what anybody can imagine.

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I work in technology now and I believe in that and I sense it from you and I sense it from Steven and it's really powerful, you know, when you have that.

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And then people resonate with it, right?

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So you get this review and you're connected to that customer.

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That's the added value to to any kind of business.

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Yeah.

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And you know, for us, a lot of fishermen, they don't get that connection.

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If they're selling to a processing facility or whatever it, they just don't get that final connection to the customer.

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Oh yeah.

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And so it's really special.

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That's

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That's very true.

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Yeah.

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So how has social media played a role in building your community and sharing your journey?

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I think it's, social media is a really fun place to share that glimpse.

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And it's been fun for our business because it's such a family business.

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It's such a part of.

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It's really our lifestyle.

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It's who we are.

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Anyways, if you just look in my phone, there's going to be all these fishing photos and with the family on the boat.

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I love it.

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And there's gonna be pictures of fish.

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And so it really is this kind of glimpse into our life anyways, which we were living anyways.

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We were already doing this for 20 years.

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And it, the interesting part has been learning that, oh, people are interested.

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They care.

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Yeah.

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That's, kind of the surprise sometimes is this is our normal, but people are like, oh my gosh.

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Wow.

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That's really cool.

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You know, I have this idea in my head and it's, off, off key, but a lot of people start podcasts to tell their story, right?

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And they want to, sell their book.

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They, instead of doing a book, they do a podcast.

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But since you've been on a lot of podcasts and you're telling your story, I think you should write a book, not a cookbook.

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I'm talking about the journey.

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I've seen it.

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Seafoods.

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You know, I've

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just been starting to think about that.

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It would be amazing.

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Just

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the idea, I mean, it's a little bit daunting.

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But just like we're saying that the idea that people are interested.

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That people would wanna sit down and, read a book about it.

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And what would that entail?

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Because when it's so much your everyday life but okay.

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I'm hearing you and I listen because I think it's really

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interesting.

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I might, I listen.

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Yeah.

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You never know.

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I listen to three or four of your podcast and I try not to ask the same questions, but I really feel it.

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I mean, I feel like you live and breathe it.

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It's around your family.

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It's part of your culture, and you're sharing this with so many people around the country and it, just makes sense to me or start a podcast.

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I love it.

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It's just start our podcast.

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I agree with the book.

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Yeah.

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You never know.

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It would turn into a movie or, there you go.

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Possibly.

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Yeah.

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Ah, there you go.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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I love it.

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Thank you.

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So what does, let's move on to, what does sustainable fish mean to you personally, and how do you ensure that these values are reflected in your business?

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I love that one.

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Especially because I think that sometimes.

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The relationship between the, fishermen and the fish is, can be misconstrued, especially for commercial fishing.

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When you're talking about an industry like taking the wild Alaska salmon, which is cotton, Alaska it's, small boats or 32 foot limits.

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So you're talking 1, 1 1 to two or three guys, and these are small family boats, and that's how these operations all are.

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So we aren't unique.

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In the salmon industry.

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But I think that just for people to realize that fishing is usually, it is caught by these fishing families and we've, a lot of fishing families have been fishing for generations and they want to continue fishing for generations.

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They want abundant fish, they want to live the lifestyle.

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Of fishing and living off of the earth and things like that, just like a rancher or you know, a farmer or industries like that where you can see what you're doing.

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We just have this invisible ocean, but so many fishermen are on board with sustain sustainability and what does that mean?

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And our industry is actually very highly regulated.

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I think that people just don't always realize how highly regulated it is and how, That's a great thing.

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Everybody's on board for Copper River Salmon Each, each fish is, it's almost.

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Regulated slightly different depending on the fish and how it's caught.

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Oh, okay.

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The long lining fish is, regulated differently.

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It's federally regulated 'cause you catch it in federal waters.

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The salmon is regulated by the state of Alaska and the state of Alaska has known for a long time.

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That seafood and maintaining that seafood is, their livelihood.

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Okay?

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So they have had sustainability into their, in their state constitution for a long time, and they don't allow things like fish farming, which is great because fish farming can pollute the rivers and actually affect the wild stock.

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So things like that allow the wild stock, you know, up in Alaska, these rivers are truly wild, but the regulations also.

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The way we fish, we have very tight openings and it's the fish are monitored, the return, so the fish crossing going up river to spawn, they're actually being counted with fish counters and the data's being looked at daily.

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And if targets are being hit for how many fish are returning, then openings are opened.

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And if there's targets aren't being hit, then it doesn't open.

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Oh, and so it's first the, we have the escapement for next year or in four years, and then fishing on the extra.

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Yeah.

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So you're not just going and taking it all and then hoping that it's gonna replenish itself?

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No.

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Okay.

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That's fantastic.

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Do you have any questions around sustainability?

00:16:24.330 --> 00:16:24.840
Chef Steven?

00:16:24.840 --> 00:16:26.789
I know you're really passionate about.

00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:36.539
Yeah I, think sustainability is mentioned a lot in different, you know, aspects other than seafood.

00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:40.620
I think I have a question about quality.

00:16:41.190 --> 00:16:55.019
Because you mentioned that customer feedback they, were very nice of describing they had the fish in Alaska and yours was better, or almost up to the same part.

00:16:55.500 --> 00:16:58.725
How, do you keep the quality you know, same question.

00:16:58.725 --> 00:16:59.044
Oh, yeah.

00:16:59.044 --> 00:16:59.605
Right, right, right.

00:16:59.605 --> 00:16:59.924
Good one.

00:17:00.184 --> 00:17:05.880
How do you make sure it arrive that, that freshness from the ocean to, the doorsteps?

00:17:05.880 --> 00:17:06.029
Right.

00:17:06.525 --> 00:17:09.075
Absolutely the quality starts.

00:17:10.394 --> 00:17:12.644
The second that fish comes out of the water.

00:17:12.734 --> 00:17:14.295
So when that fish is caught.

00:17:14.295 --> 00:17:19.214
So the quality really starts with the fishermen and having a quality minded fishermen and boat.

00:17:19.904 --> 00:17:25.815
So the setup, but the moment that fish comes out of the water, it need to be, it needs to be handled really carefully.

00:17:26.144 --> 00:17:30.944
So you can't have that fish flopping on the dock, on the deck safe, for example, if it's.

00:17:30.944 --> 00:17:45.640
If it's flopping, it's bruising and it's building up lactic acid and heat and it's all about the time and temperature, so you need to get that fish chilled, handled carefully and chilled as fast as possible.

00:17:46.119 --> 00:17:48.730
So that's the beauty of these small boats.

00:17:48.970 --> 00:17:55.359
And when you, copper River, which is where we fish, so fish actually come in pretty slow, and so you're able to.

00:17:56.025 --> 00:17:56.444
Bleed.

00:17:56.444 --> 00:18:05.684
We have a high pressure bleed box, so you're using pressure, water pressure to actually push the blood out very quickly, but it's also chilling that fish really quickly.

00:18:05.684 --> 00:18:06.525
So it's just amazing.

00:18:06.525 --> 00:18:13.095
How quickly can you get each individual fish chilled and then they're laid on ice, and ice scooped on top.

00:18:13.335 --> 00:18:16.394
So the perfect temperature for the fish is actually.

00:18:17.744 --> 00:18:19.005
Melting ice.

00:18:19.505 --> 00:18:21.674
You want just a little bit of ice on top.

00:18:21.674 --> 00:18:31.575
So it's that melting ice is it, is that 32 degrees of the perfect temperature where you're not exactly freezing it yet, but you're as cold as you can be.

00:18:32.535 --> 00:18:32.595
Yeah.

00:18:32.595 --> 00:18:32.805
Amazing.

00:18:33.015 --> 00:18:40.035
And you know, seeing these fishermen lay every fish down, you know, shove a little sprinkle of ice, you know, repeat.

00:18:40.934 --> 00:18:42.075
Very carefully.

00:18:42.075 --> 00:18:51.134
Even things like, my husband is fishermen and he has the processing facility, so having control over every step and he still does both.

00:18:51.134 --> 00:18:59.744
So he's fishing and they did things like, and they of course give a better price to the fishermen if it's handled better and chilled and, the, better systems.

00:18:59.865 --> 00:19:04.484
But he even started giving them a bonus if, their bag is small.

00:19:04.484 --> 00:19:05.740
So they, they.

00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:13.240
pile the fish in the brailer bags they're, even telling the fishermen, listen, don't overfill the bag because the fish on the bottom, it gets too heavy.

00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:13.299
Yeah.

00:19:13.509 --> 00:19:26.769
So the really detailed instructions on you know, how we handle our fish and the fishermen, they love it because they take a lot of pride in the quality of their fish that they're delivering.

00:19:27.099 --> 00:19:27.220
Yeah.

00:19:27.474 --> 00:19:27.765
Yeah.

00:19:27.890 --> 00:19:29.289
So that's just on board.

00:19:30.299 --> 00:19:31.950
Now take that all the way through.

00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:40.200
You know, you got the processing facility and every step it takes, and it's all time, temperature, every way, everywhere through,

00:19:41.460 --> 00:19:49.289
but also your packaging for sustainability and, Yeah, thinking about the environment, I was really impressed with that.

00:19:49.289 --> 00:19:53.309
Can you tell us a little bit about what goes into your packaging?

00:19:53.309 --> 00:19:55.470
I know you, you're very passionate about that.

00:19:56.369 --> 00:19:56.789
Yes.

00:19:56.789 --> 00:20:02.430
We ship to people's door and so we wanna be really thoughtful about that.

00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:13.920
Just in it in itself, you know, we're getting it to your door and packaging and it is very common when we started for, everyone to use styrofoam when it's coming to fish.

00:20:14.250 --> 00:20:17.700
Because you wanna keep it cool, it's all, you know, you've gotta keep that temperature down.

00:20:18.420 --> 00:20:27.029
But we took our time and really looked at alternatives and we use a sustainable, foam.

00:20:27.029 --> 00:20:28.589
It's actually a corn starch base.

00:20:28.589 --> 00:20:29.490
My kids used to come.

00:20:29.490 --> 00:20:30.059
Yeah, I found that

00:20:30.329 --> 00:20:31.230
very interesting.

00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:33.869
I told my kids, it's edible kids way back.

00:20:33.869 --> 00:20:34.710
It's edible.

00:20:34.710 --> 00:20:35.250
Yes.

00:20:35.250 --> 00:20:39.089
And we did a lot of testing and so they would just think it was so hilarious.

00:20:39.089 --> 00:20:45.390
They'd walk into the warehouse and grab our foam and just take a bite out of it and I'm, Hey, I need that for shipping.

00:20:45.390 --> 00:20:46.859
You can't just bite the.

00:20:51.335 --> 00:20:52.085
That's awesome.

00:20:53.015 --> 00:20:54.125
That is awesome.

00:20:54.154 --> 00:20:55.085
I love that.

00:20:55.115 --> 00:20:56.015
Oh my gosh.

00:20:56.015 --> 00:21:08.075
But you know, there's so much that goes into it and most of us, like I wasn't aware of all the steps and all the care and all these things, especially to protect the fishery, right?

00:21:08.075 --> 00:21:08.134
Yeah.

00:21:09.690 --> 00:21:13.559
I interviewed Tom Douglas and he started talking about that, and I love Tom.

00:21:13.589 --> 00:21:15.329
Oh my gosh, he's one of my idols.

00:21:15.329 --> 00:21:21.630
And he got so passionate about copper, salmon and all the things that are going on there.

00:21:21.630 --> 00:21:27.779
And so when you started talking about it and I started reading about it, I just, I got, really excited.

00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:29.789
I love Copper River too.

00:21:29.940 --> 00:21:32.549
He's amazing And and he gets it.

00:21:33.164 --> 00:21:33.434
Oh yeah.

00:21:33.434 --> 00:21:34.875
Protect the salmon.

00:21:34.875 --> 00:21:37.845
Protect the industry that protects the salmon.

00:21:38.174 --> 00:21:46.454
Because if we don't have this fishing industry, you know, that cares so much about the return of these fish, what will happen to these rivers?

00:21:46.454 --> 00:21:49.214
Who's gonna keep the deforestation and the mining away?

00:21:49.994 --> 00:21:57.734
It's these fishermen and fishing communities and the industry of fishing that's advocating for these clean rivers.

00:21:58.950 --> 00:21:59.849
The pebble mine.

00:21:59.849 --> 00:22:02.339
I know he's a big advocate or you know, I was

00:22:02.339 --> 00:22:03.744
gonna say, yeah, that's it right there.

00:22:03.744 --> 00:22:03.825
Yeah.

00:22:03.829 --> 00:22:04.440
Keeping the

00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:05.849
pebble mine away and things like that.

00:22:06.065 --> 00:22:14.339
I mean, not putting a mine at the head of our biggest wild salmon run on the planet.

00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:19.019
That stuff is, it matters and, it's working.

00:22:19.079 --> 00:22:21.059
You know, they're not putting in pedal pebble mind.

00:22:21.059 --> 00:22:27.690
So it's great to see people like him really care, be passionate and put their, throw their weight into it.

00:22:28.785 --> 00:22:31.035
Yeah, he just was on fire.

00:22:31.154 --> 00:22:33.825
You know, as soon as I mentioned it, I'm like, I couldn't stop him.

00:22:34.365 --> 00:22:36.914
And it was great because I'm very passionate about it too.

00:22:37.305 --> 00:22:40.365
What you have to understand is I've been to Alaska on my 40th.

00:22:40.484 --> 00:22:46.095
I went and flew and stayed for nine days on Alagnak River, and we floated it.

00:22:46.095 --> 00:22:46.575
Cool.

00:22:46.724 --> 00:22:46.904
Oh wow.

00:22:46.934 --> 00:22:49.605
And it's all about conservation.

00:22:49.605 --> 00:22:50.865
It's all about preserving.

00:22:51.555 --> 00:22:54.075
I wanted to see a bear in my life.

00:22:54.285 --> 00:22:57.704
On my bucket list was to see a grizzly in the wild 14.

00:22:57.734 --> 00:22:58.634
That trip.

00:22:58.904 --> 00:22:58.964
Wow.

00:23:00.224 --> 00:23:00.674
Wow.

00:23:00.674 --> 00:23:06.015
14. Including watching a mother with its cubs swimming across the river going up on a hill.

00:23:06.464 --> 00:23:06.615
Oh, wow.

00:23:06.615 --> 00:23:08.355
And it was just priceless.

00:23:08.384 --> 00:23:14.384
But it's all about that whole cycle, not just the salmon, but it's everything involved in the cycle.

00:23:14.384 --> 00:23:14.744
Sure.

00:23:15.525 --> 00:23:20.714
And it's very powerful, and it's all about conservation, so I'm really passionate about that.

00:23:21.375 --> 00:23:25.335
What do you find most meaningful about running a family-based seafood business?

00:23:25.384 --> 00:23:34.084
We talked about that customer connection, but I think that the way we're running this, it's fun for our kids to see every step.

00:23:34.460 --> 00:23:40.339
So in the summer we'll go up to Alaska and we live on the boat and we fish on the boat with my husband.

00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:46.400
And you know, they know everybody on the boat has a job and they have jobs on the boat.

00:23:46.460 --> 00:23:52.819
And then often we'll come home, we don't do as many farmer's markets anymore, but we were doing quite a few pre COVID.

00:23:53.269 --> 00:23:57.410
So then they'd come home and they would be coming around to farmer's markets with me.

00:23:57.859 --> 00:23:58.279
And.

00:23:59.569 --> 00:24:09.950
Selling the fish, talking to the customers, and to be able to sit there and tell people, yeah, I, you know, I helped catch this fish and this is how, we catch it and this is how we do, and we help cut it.

00:24:09.950 --> 00:24:12.200
We're at, we, see every step.

00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:18.890
And so for them to see the work and energy that we put into it and the passion, I think is really cool.

00:24:20.089 --> 00:24:21.109
Oh, that's awesome.

00:24:24.200 --> 00:24:24.920
What products?

00:24:26.450 --> 00:24:27.859
I don't want to call 'em products.

00:24:27.859 --> 00:24:30.119
'cause to me , seafood is everything.

00:24:30.869 --> 00:24:35.549
But what seafood do your customers rave about the most?

00:24:36.690 --> 00:24:42.650
Oh, I would say copper River Sockeye is, our backbone.

00:24:42.650 --> 00:24:45.990
Copper River, Sockeye I, wanna just put on the.

00:24:46.904 --> 00:24:47.355
Website.

00:24:47.805 --> 00:24:49.184
This is what you're coming for.

00:24:49.184 --> 00:24:49.694
I know that.

00:24:49.994 --> 00:24:50.295
Yeah.

00:24:50.805 --> 00:24:51.315
Here, you go.

00:24:51.555 --> 00:24:56.295
Because a lot of people that are coming to our site are coming for Copper River Sockeye.

00:24:56.984 --> 00:25:01.394
We have Copper River King, which is, you know, the most amazing salmon.

00:25:02.055 --> 00:25:05.144
But, we sell out and we don't always have it.

00:25:05.204 --> 00:25:07.095
And it's something really special.

00:25:07.095 --> 00:25:12.105
You know, if you can afford it and you ever see it available, definitely try the king.

00:25:12.644 --> 00:25:15.164
But we eat the king, you know, in June.

00:25:15.615 --> 00:25:21.734
But we're eating Copper River sockeye the rest of the year along with our customers because that's what's available.

00:25:22.664 --> 00:25:26.085
So that's our backbone.

00:25:26.085 --> 00:25:30.674
But then I think it's fun when people, we have a lot of different cuts and we do different things.

00:25:30.674 --> 00:25:33.315
You know, we scrape the backbone of every fish.

00:25:33.615 --> 00:25:42.345
We have chops where we're utilizing the white fish, we take the skin off and the bones off so you can, it's ready to use in recipes.

00:25:42.345 --> 00:25:43.845
So I think what's fun is when.

00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:50.250
People come for what they know and love or they've heard about and then end up trying something new.

00:25:51.059 --> 00:25:51.329
Sure.

00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:53.069
Yeah.

00:25:53.609 --> 00:25:55.049
Steven talk.

00:25:55.470 --> 00:25:56.910
Why don't you chime in about

00:25:57.000 --> 00:25:58.079
your favorites?

00:25:59.045 --> 00:26:10.859
I, think I haven't tried, any of product line yet, but I, I think my favorite and, of all time.

00:26:11.369 --> 00:26:14.459
Is actually, you know, cod'cause it's so Black Cod.

00:26:14.460 --> 00:26:14.549
Yeah.

00:26:14.549 --> 00:26:15.089
So easy.

00:26:15.095 --> 00:26:15.484
Oh, the

00:26:15.484 --> 00:26:15.855
Black Cod.

00:26:15.994 --> 00:26:16.285
Yeah.

00:26:16.515 --> 00:26:16.805
Yeah,

00:26:17.160 --> 00:26:23.490
the Black Cod 'cause it's so easy to cook and there's so many variation that you can do.

00:26:23.490 --> 00:26:28.079
And I checked out Sena's website with all the recipes Oh yeah.

00:26:28.349 --> 00:26:29.069
And blogs.

00:26:29.549 --> 00:26:36.930
I feel like from looking at all the recipes I have, the first thought was, oh, this is very interesting.

00:26:38.130 --> 00:26:56.789
We're trying to get people to eat more seafood or cod or whatever fish that's, available with these vast variety of, recipes from kebabs to stews and even patties.

00:26:56.970 --> 00:26:59.279
And, then and, also barbecues.

00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:00.420
So there's so many.

00:27:00.839 --> 00:27:04.230
I feel like there's so many styles to get more people.

00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:10.349
To understand it and, don't be intimidated to cook them.

00:27:11.670 --> 00:27:12.210
Oh yeah.

00:27:12.210 --> 00:27:16.740
I love to introduce people to Black Cod or also called Sable Fish.

00:27:16.894 --> 00:27:20.069
It's, you know, when we catch it, it's called Black Cod on our fish tickets.

00:27:20.069 --> 00:27:24.240
And when we sell it, we have to sell it as Sable fish for labeling.

00:27:24.329 --> 00:27:27.630
And so that's why you see, you hear it both ways.

00:27:27.819 --> 00:27:29.640
And as fishermen, we know it as black cod.

00:27:30.420 --> 00:27:36.660
And you know, it's interesting'cause I see it both ways in restaurants also, but it's just one of those things.

00:27:36.930 --> 00:27:40.200
I mean, it's one of those fish that's gonna have probably many names.

00:27:40.410 --> 00:27:40.650
Yeah.

00:27:40.710 --> 00:27:45.119
But that's a really fun one to introduce people to because they maybe haven't had it before.

00:27:45.329 --> 00:27:51.420
It's something that I often serve to guests because people try Black Co and they're like, what is this?

00:27:51.934 --> 00:27:58.085
So rich and buttery, unlike a lot of white fish that can be very, it's not regular

00:27:58.085 --> 00:28:00.515
cod, it's not regular cod.

00:28:00.545 --> 00:28:00.964
Yeah.

00:28:01.234 --> 00:28:03.305
It is very unique and it's so

00:28:03.305 --> 00:28:04.265
forgiving when, you

00:28:04.265 --> 00:28:05.345
cook it, it's

00:28:05.644 --> 00:28:06.934
doesn't dry out too much.

00:28:06.934 --> 00:28:07.625
Oh, yeah.

00:28:07.625 --> 00:28:07.625
Yeah.

00:28:07.954 --> 00:28:14.914
When I have guests, I cook it and people think I'm an amazing chef, and I'm like, Ooh, you know, it's really just the Black Cod

00:28:15.605 --> 00:28:19.714
The, product shined itself, but I'm, very interested to.

00:28:20.259 --> 00:28:43.035
After reading this background I'm very interested to learn what is quantifying omega threes in the fish and, what does that do in health benefits, because I'm very, I'm not professional in any way of nutritional knowledge but I'm very passionate about.

00:28:44.295 --> 00:28:45.825
Eating very nutritious.

00:28:45.825 --> 00:28:50.954
I think food heal the body, so I'm very interested to, to learn more about that part.

00:28:51.855 --> 00:28:52.184
Yeah.

00:28:52.184 --> 00:28:55.575
Quantifying omega threes, that makes it sound like you read my thesis.

00:28:57.045 --> 00:29:01.365
That was part of my master's degree was quantifying the omega threes of That's awesome.

00:29:01.394 --> 00:29:09.944
West coast alba cor tuna and quantifying is just counting, but it's just measuring how many, how much omega threes are in the fish.

00:29:10.005 --> 00:29:18.750
And what's really interesting is, I was doing that in the let's see, early two thousands.

00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:33.630
And at the time I was working for a seafood lab and I was getting my master's degree and the West Coast Albacore people that association of people that catch it had said they had came, come to my professor and said.

00:29:34.755 --> 00:29:40.545
The Copper River people are doing such an amazing job marketing Copper River Salmon because it has high omega threes.

00:29:40.545 --> 00:29:42.674
And that's what we want to do.

00:29:42.734 --> 00:29:48.404
And so the first step is we need to measure the omega threes in our West coast  Albacore tuna.

00:29:48.525 --> 00:29:49.964
And that's what I was doing.

00:29:49.964 --> 00:30:00.105
And I had no idea I would later be even, we had, we weren't even catching Copper River salmon at the time, so I had no idea I would be involved with Copper River Salmon.

00:30:00.105 --> 00:30:02.775
My whole, my family and my husband were catching.

00:30:04.005 --> 00:30:06.404
Halibut and Black Cod at the time.

00:30:07.095 --> 00:30:13.755
And so I got to work with this incredible  Albacore , which I don't sell because we don't catch it in Alaska, but.

00:30:14.565 --> 00:30:17.474
What a amazing fish to work with.

00:30:17.474 --> 00:30:21.674
So I was measuring the omega threes in a very laboratory way.

00:30:22.714 --> 00:30:28.335
Chemicals in a lab, you know, bunson burner kind of very very laboratory.

00:30:28.724 --> 00:30:32.505
But then, you know, and I'd use this funny drill bit to kind of.

00:30:33.410 --> 00:30:33.650
Oh wow.

00:30:33.650 --> 00:30:35.839
Get core samples out of the fish.

00:30:35.869 --> 00:30:36.559
I had these zones,

00:30:37.490 --> 00:30:37.521
oh my gosh.

00:30:37.609 --> 00:30:41.690
I was doing zones of the fish and I was getting core samples out of each zone.

00:30:41.690 --> 00:30:47.990
And these, fish came from boats that were right there in the harbor that had, you know, handled them in certain ways.

00:30:48.230 --> 00:30:50.690
So anyways, then I'm bringing these fish home.

00:30:50.809 --> 00:30:52.640
They have the core samples drilled out and then.

00:30:53.055 --> 00:30:57.944
My husband, Rich, is we have a smoker and he's like smoking these West coast Albacore my gosh.

00:30:58.335 --> 00:31:00.105
Belly flaps and things like that.

00:31:00.285 --> 00:31:07.184
I mean, it was really amazing because we ate so good and I have such an appreciation for that fish.

00:31:07.184 --> 00:31:08.924
It's an incredible fish.

00:31:09.434 --> 00:31:10.005
I love it.

00:31:10.009 --> 00:31:10.319
I love

00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:10.400
it.

00:31:10.404 --> 00:31:11.625
So that's a sidetrack.

00:31:11.654 --> 00:31:11.954
No,

00:31:12.795 --> 00:31:13.724
that's awesome.

00:31:13.934 --> 00:31:15.599
But the omega threes very amazing.

00:31:15.950 --> 00:31:21.224
Just to kind of dive back into your question is you know, on Fish, what's amazing is that.

00:31:22.125 --> 00:31:28.484
The fat is Omega-3 in the form of omega threes or fatty acids Is, healthy for you.

00:31:28.875 --> 00:31:34.994
And so on fish, you just get this real double duty where the fat makes it taste good.

00:31:34.994 --> 00:31:36.525
It gives you that mouth feel.

00:31:36.855 --> 00:31:38.954
The moistness and the flavor.

00:31:39.134 --> 00:31:42.494
So where the fat makes it taste good, but it's because it's omega threes.

00:31:42.494 --> 00:31:43.365
It's also.

00:31:43.964 --> 00:31:44.535
Healthy.

00:31:44.535 --> 00:31:46.515
So omega threes are healthy for our body.

00:31:46.515 --> 00:31:49.035
It's one of those things that we don't make ourselves.

00:31:49.035 --> 00:31:53.174
So we need to eat omega threes in our food source and.

00:31:54.795 --> 00:32:02.595
When it comes to fish, it's like we get to, you get to really celebrate that healthy fat because it tastes good and it's delicious.

00:32:03.015 --> 00:32:03.075
Yeah.

00:32:03.082 --> 00:32:04.724
Or tastes good, delicious and healthy.

00:32:04.724 --> 00:32:05.204
How about that?

00:32:05.210 --> 00:32:05.349
Yes.

00:32:07.484 --> 00:32:14.684
As we wrap up, for listeners who wanna support you, how can they find and order from Sena Seafoods?

00:32:15.795 --> 00:32:17.865
They should definitely come to our website at.

00:32:18.555 --> 00:32:19.964
Senasea.com.

00:32:19.980 --> 00:32:22.740
S-E-N-A-S-E -A.com.

00:32:22.740 --> 00:32:26.579
And then I like to tell people to jump on our email list.

00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:27.809
We have a VIP list.

00:32:27.809 --> 00:32:29.430
That's where you're gonna hear like.

00:32:30.630 --> 00:32:34.019
You know, when we have Copper River King available or something really special.

00:32:34.019 --> 00:32:45.000
But that's also where I really like to connect, like I mentioned, and where you're gonna just hear more about our family and what we're doing, the lifestyle and get lots of great recipes,

00:32:45.299 --> 00:32:46.619
incredible recipes.

00:32:46.619 --> 00:32:49.559
By the way, I saw on your blog.

00:32:50.549 --> 00:32:58.109
Something about halibut cheeks, and it brought back a memory where a friend had brought back halibut cheeks and gave me a bag of them.

00:32:58.230 --> 00:32:58.349
Oh, yeah.00:32:58.769 --> 00:33:00.690


And I just went crazy.00:33:00.690 --> 00:33:02.910


I couldn't believe how good and tender they were.00:33:02.910 --> 00:33:08.039


But you wrote about it and it just hit me so hard.00:33:08.069 --> 00:33:13.380


I have, I can't even tell you because every time they come into season here I go crazy.00:33:13.799 --> 00:33:14.759


Oh yeah.00:33:14.759 --> 00:33:16.049


That's something that, you know.00:33:16.950 --> 00:33:18.900


Traditionally only fishermen knew about.00:33:19.230 --> 00:33:20.160


Right, right.00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:21.779


It's kind of would be a hidden secret, right?00:33:21.779 --> 00:33:22.079


Yeah.00:33:23.460 --> 00:33:26.579


So we got a minute and 20 seconds left.00:33:27.900 --> 00:33:33.180


Is there a final message that you'd love to leave with our listeners around the world?00:33:35.265 --> 00:33:36.134


Oh wow.00:33:36.259 --> 00:33:36.839


No pressure.00:33:36.839 --> 00:33:37.035


No pressure00:33:37.724 --> 00:33:37.964


at all.00:33:38.654 --> 00:33:46.275


I would just say, and I've been repeating this over and over when I just talked to my friends and everything, it's all about the food.00:33:46.424 --> 00:33:48.285


Everything goes back to the food.00:33:49.035 --> 00:33:57.404


Whether you're talking about community or just feeding your family or time around the table, or your health or your kids' health.00:33:57.660 --> 00:33:59.579


Yeah, it's all about the food.00:33:59.579 --> 00:34:13.260


So just being mindful of what you're eating, how you're eating taking the time to cook and prepare and eat with your family and friends is, it matters.00:34:13.710 --> 00:34:14.068


Okay.00:34:14.969 --> 00:34:23.639


Thank you so much Cina for being with us today, and thank you Chef Steven for becoming our co-host, and we'll say goodbye.00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:24.929


Thank you.00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:25.559


All right.00:34:25.559 --> 00:34:26.190


Thank you all.00:34:26.460 --> 00:34:27.090


Take care now.00:34:27.704 --> 00:34:28.275


Take care.00:34:29.534 --> 00:34:30.105


Thanks guys.