Tony Neal
Founder & Commercial Fisherman
Tony has been fishing Bristol Bay since 1987. He founded Popsie Fish Co to put the family's own catch directly into the hands of the people who eat it.
Tony holds a Bristol Bay set gillnet limited entry permit and runs the family's setnet operation every summer through the sockeye run. Setnetting is the oldest, most selective way to fish the bay: nets anchored from the beach, worked by hand on the tide, hauled the moment the fish hit. It is slower than the big drift boats and it is how this family has always done it.
Since 1987 he has watched the bay through record runs and lean ones, through the fight over Pebble Mine, and through the shift from selling to processors for pennies to shipping flash-frozen sockeye straight to families across the country. Popsie is the result: no middleman, no subscription, no corporate parent. Just the sockeye his family caught, sold alongside wild Alaska halibut, Pacific cod and sablefish from other Alaska fishermen.
This is not a marketing badge. Under Alaska law, a limited entry permit cannot be owned by a company — only by an individual. The permit holder must be physically on the fishing grounds while fishing, and only the permit holder can deliver and sell the catch. Every delivery is run through the permit card and recorded on a state fish ticket with the species, weight, area, date and permit holder.
It is the reason a venture-funded corporation literally cannot be what we are. Check it yourself: at cfec.state.ak.us/plook, enter Serial 60274 and Fishery S04T (zero, not the letter O), then click Find.
What Tony knows
- ▸The Bristol Bay sockeye fishery and how it is managed
- ▸Setnet fishing methods and gear
- ▸Wild salmon sustainability and the Pebble Mine fight
- ▸Sourcing and direct-to-consumer seafood
Meet the rest of the family
Popsie is one family with four permits. The whole story is on our About page.