Today, I would like to point out some helpful info about tuna- things I get asked often. I hope you find it interesting and helpful. I will also include some resources found on the internet that you may find helpful!

If you have any questions to ask me, simply reply to this email and Jennie will write it down and I will answer for the next email we send!

The fish I bring to the dock for you are handled with extreme care to ensure a high quality product.  For tuna, this includes bleeding every fish as it comes on board by slicing the artery in the throat and immediately chilling them down with an ice/salt/water brine that is approximately 20 F, before being transferred to the fish hold where they are buried in ice until the fish is removed from the ice to be taken home by you.We sell whole fish and the price you pay, (as of August 30th 2020) is $3.50 a pound. Please remember that this is for a whole fish, otherwise known in the fishing world as “fish in the round” —not loin price.  Yield of a fish is generally between 40% and 60%, depending on the individual fish. In other words, you will go home with about 50% meat from a whole fish or fish in the round. When you buy tuna from us you are buying the skin, head, belly, fins, and loins. You are welcome to all of it, even if you have it processed by the cutters. The scraps make excellent crab bait or fish stock. This is all yours and we encourage you to make use of it all!

When a fish is cut, it should yield four loins per whole fish, one belly section, and often some scrap parts that are not part of the loin.

We offer an optional service to cut your fish for a fee per fish. This optional service is provided for your benefit and we do not make a profit on the cutting service (cutting fees go to the individual fish cutters, not to F/V Willapa).

The cutting service we chose this year for our boat is one of the best! The gentleman we use to process fish is used by the Garibaldi Cannery and has been cutting fish for many years. His cutting fee is $6.00 per fish and is likely less than the other fish cutting services in port. There are many fish cutting places such as The Spot and Garibaldi Cannery.

When our cutting service is used, any edible scrap piece is included for you to take home as it is great for additional fish in your canner loads.

Let’s talk about belly meat! The fish piece with the skin left on are the belly meat.  Many people use tuna belly as a bait for salmonoid fishing, as it is one of the best baits available for freshwater salmonoid fishing (especially steelhead). It is also great crab bait. Some people smoke their tuna belly, skin on. Some people remove the tuna belly meat from the skin and put a bit of each in each can for canning, as it is high in oil content and makes the cans a bit oilier. Bellies have many uses. If you do not want to use the belly meat for anything, I assure you that many people would gladly take it off your hands as it is highly prized for smoked fish and for bait.