The average person, when thinking about Oregon seafood, or Pacific Northwest seafood, may think about Dungeness crab, wild chinook salmon, oysters, perhaps the Oregon coast stops as you drive down the Pacific Coast Highway 101 and see signs for clam chowder and fish and chips. Make no mistake though, Oregon Albacore Tuna is an important catch of the Oregon’s fishing industry, and if you are making a checklist of all the bounty of the Oregon Coast, you should be specifically seeking out Oregon albacore in your food goals of tasting what our west coast has to offer. In doing so you will also be supporting local fishing families and sustainable seafood practices.

I recently went on a media tour with the Oregon Albacore Commision and learned so much, and wanted to share it with you so you can also make your own informed decisions. I am not being compensated for this – I want to share my education on how to practically support local and those who care and want to be good custodians of our environment and ecosystem.

If you are interested in taking a seafood tour yourself, look for a Shop at the Dock tour during the summer which like my tour, is led by Oregon Sea Grant from Oregon State University – shout out to Amanda Gladics for her teaching me so much (pictured below to the left) and Jeff Wong of Community Supported Fishery for taking time for us as well to tell his origin story as independent fisherman tale. You can also find workshops via Shifting Tides.

Oregon fishermen are a network of almost all local, independent fishing families, some of whom have been part of the fishing industry for generations. Most of the boats are smaller than you think – 30-50 feet long, with a crew of maybe 5 people are less. Specialized equipment, fishing expertise and safety knowledge is needed because the boats must go out 30 miles or more offshore, so those who make a living as fisherman have made an investment financially and of their time to build the maritime professional proficiency.

Oregon albacore tuna is caught one at a time, by hand, using hook and line fishing methods such as a tuna troller (educational pdf) or live bait jigging (video example) – no nets and by-catch mortality of seagirds and other marine mammals and other harmful effects of driftnet (Wiki article) which happens outside of Oregon and are the opposite of sustainable fisheries management practices and have negative consequences to the ocean ecosystem. It is important to support with your choice of where you spend your money those who are promoting alternative processes to prove out that they can be successful and as consumers we prove it matters.