“Cold chain” sounds technical, but it’s a simple idea: from the moment a fish leaves the water, time and temperature are the biggest levers on its quality. Every warm gap along the way costs you, and none of it comes back. Here’s the chain, link by link.

On the boat

Quality starts before we ever see the fish — how fast it was bled and chilled, how much ice or slush was aboard, how long the run in took. A well-handled fish arrives with a head start; a poorly handled one can’t be rescued at the plant. That’s why we talk handling and timing through with the boats and tenders before a landing.

At the dock

When the boat lands, the clock is what matters. We get the fish off, into receiving, and cold as quickly as we can, right here on the Spit — no truck haul between a separate dock and the plant.

Through the plant

On the line, the fish stays cold while it’s graded, processed, and packed. Fresh and frozen products each have their own handling, but the principle doesn’t change: keep the temperature down and the delays short.

Out to market

Packing isn’t the finish line. From cold storage, product moves out under coordinated refrigerated transport — most of ours by reefer truck to Seattle and Vancouver and on from there. The cold chain has to hold the whole way, or the work up front is wasted.

The takeaway

No single link makes the fish great — but any weak link can undo it. Our job is to run our part of the chain tight and hand the product off in the best shape we can.

Part of our look at how we handle fish.

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