Products | Fresh and Frozen | Chum Salmon

Chum Salmon

(Oncorhynchus keta)

Physical characteristics: In ocean-caught fish, skin color is bright silver below the lateral line and bluish on the back. The skin may have very slight speckles, but there are no large spots on either the body or the fins of the chum salmon. A brite chum salmon can often be confused with the sockeye salmon for these reasons. In more mature fish entering fresh water to spawn, the skin color darkens (or "watermarks"). Purple bars appear on the sides of the fish as the skin color itself turns from silver ("silverbrite") to gray ("semibrite") to green ("dark"). Chums also develop a very pronounced hook snout as they mature, developing canine-like teeth as well. The weight range is from 2-20#, but most commercially processed chum are in the 2-16# range on a dressed headless basis.

Seasonality: Alaska and Russia typically see runs from mid-June through the end of September. Canada, Washington, and Oregon see runs from August through the end of November. Japan's chum runs are in October and November.

Major catch areas: Alaska, Canada, Washington, Oregon, Russia, Japan.

Harvest method: Most production is net-caught, using a gill-net or seine. A small percentage of Alaskan and Canadian chum is troll-caught.

Product forms:

• Fresh: Dressed head-on (troll fish) and headless (seine and gill-net caught), fillets, steaks and market-cut steaks.
• Frozen: Dressed headless and dressed head-on, graded 2/4#, 4/6#, 6/9#, 9/12# and 12#/+ by quality grade of bright, semi-brite and dark grades. Fish are also sold by meat color grades ("red-meated" versus "pale").
• Value-added: IQF and vacuum-packed steaks in 2 ounce increments from 4-10 ounce, IQF and vacuum-packed fillet portions in 2 ounce increments from 4-10 ounce. Portions can be produced either bone-in or boneless and either skin-on or skinless. Additionally, product is often sold as sides (meaning skin-on and rib-bones/pinbones-in), and whole fillets (skin on/boneless).

Flavor/texture profile: Depending on maturity, meat color can go from red to white (pale). In general, the brighter the skin, the better the meat color and quality will be. Chum has the lowest oil content of all of the salmon species, giving it a milder flavor. The meat texture is firm, but meat color will lighten when cooked.

Notes: Chums have become the mainstay of many value-added programs because it's low oil content gives it a less "fishy" taste, not to mention longer shelf life in the freezer. The frozen chum market is very stable compared to the other four salmon species as it's prowess as a "domestic" fish has grown over the years. Chum is exported to Europe for smoking, further-processing and distribution, but very little is shipped to Japan as they have their own indigenous runs and access to Russian fish. Meat color varies by catch area, with the poorest color being in Prince William Sound and best being in the arctic region. Chum salmon are also referred to as fall, dog, calico and keta salmon.