Local business woman, Sara Erikson, owner of AlaSkins, was presented with the state’s annual Made in Alaska Manufacturer of the Year award Thursday, July 6th.
The award recognizes one Made in Alaska business that demonstrates the ability to overcome challenges, grow their business, innovate, be a leader in the community, and collaborate with other businesses.
Erikson shared what this award means to her;
“It is a huge honor to be given this award by the State of Alaska, which is overwhelming really. AlaSkins is an innovative company. We are turning a waste product into something that adds value to our pets. And also it’s an example of what we can do with our commercial fish waste. AlaSkins Vision is not just about making our pets healthy, but it’s about turning a commercial fish waste product into something that can bring profit into our commercial fishing. We want to increase our commercial fishing export value. Our fish skins do that.”
Erikson, a 3rd generation Alaskan, officially trademarked AlaSkins in January of 2017. AlaSkins, which manufactures and sells natural and several lines of pet treats made from Alaskan fish skins – salmon, halibut, and cod. The fish skins come from Alaskan local commercial fish processing locations. The business grew out of an effort by Erikson to repurpose the fish waste produced by these facilities – a concept which began to form more than seven years ago.
In 2016, Erikson’s passion for promoting wild-caught fish drove her to make a documentary called “A Fishy Tale.” This full length film explores the dangers of open net fish farming and its potential threat to Alaska’s wild salmon fisheries. Out of this project the idea to repurpose fish waste as dog treats was born.
Erikson spoke candidly about the way AlaSkins emulates the model set by Iceland’s efforts to repurpose fish waste;
“If we can follow Iceland’s model, they’re a beautiful example. They have cod. COD is huge, huge value over there, but their most value comes from the cod skins. They’re making face creams pulling the collagen out of the skin; they’re doing leather; they’re doing sports drinks, everything you can imagine. But the fish skins itself brings in more value than the actual fish in Iceland. Alaska can do the same. AlaSkins is just an example of that. It’s my goal, my vision, my purpose to show Alaska what we can do. We need to increase our commercial fish export value, and this is just a great example of what we can do.”
The Manufacturer of the Year Award is presented annually by Made in Alaska, a program of the Division of Community and Regional Affairs.