King salmon season reopens on North Coast

Wouldn’t it be nice for pescatarians to have access to fresh, local and sustainable seafood along with a vegetable CSA?

That’s exactly with Anna Larsen wondered five years ago when she launched her own community supported fishery, Siren Fish Company.

At the time, the Petaluma native was working as a sales assistant for Santa Rosa’s North Coast Fisheries, which has sold boat-direct seafood for the past 25 years.

“There were no CSFs here yet,” she said. “In the beginning, I worked at night and did the deliveries myself.”

Larsen now has two employees and about 800 active subscribers throughout the Bay Area who receive weekly or bi-weekly deliveries, either at a drop-off spot or at their homes.

Siren Fish Company offers a customizing option, allowing subscribers to choose from several weekly seafood choices or opt out of the delivery altogether.

“We send an e-mail two to three days in advance,” Larsen said. “You can change the option or order 3 pounds instead of 1 pound.”

Siren Fish Company has a few key advantages, she said. First is the freshness factor.

“I get just what I need,” Larsen said. “People are committing ahead of time.”

Subscribers also benefit from Larsen’s knowledge, receiving fishermen’s bios, fishery information and recipes for their seafood.

Larsen also is able to check the source of the fish, vetting how it was caught and other sustainability factors. She sources mostly from the North Coast, occasionally dipping as far south as San Diego and as far north as Oregon for special items like prawns or oysters.

“The problem with buying from a generic seafood counter is that fish is hard to track,” Larsen said. “I see what’s coming in and talk to the fisherman.”

On a recent week in mid-August, Siren Fish Company’s choices included fresh fluke halibut, King salmon and Blackgill rockfish, all from the North Coast, plus Kumamoto oysters from Eureka.

Although most subscribers say they are flexible about what kind of fish they will eat, most prefer the fleshy salmon and tuna to the small, bony anchovies or wiggly squid.

“I don’t think the CSF model is going to upend the whole system,” Larsen said. “But it’s another off-ramp in the existing system.”