Verify Our Alaska Fishing Permits

Every sockeye we sell is caught by a named member of our family — each one personally holding a State of Alaska commercial fishing permit you can look up yourself in a public government database. Here is how to verify it.

Why this is proof, not a marketing claim

Alaska's salmon fisheries are protected by a law most seafood companies would rather you didn't know about. Under the state's Limited Entry Act, a commercial salmon permit can only be held by an individual person — never by a corporation. The rules are the trust story:

  • A company cannot own a permit. Only a person can. A venture-funded seafood corporation is legally barred from holding one.
  • Permits are personal. An individual may fish only their own permit.
  • The permit holder must be on the water. They have to be physically present on the fishing grounds while fishing.
  • Only the permit holder can sell the catch. Every landing runs through the permit card, so the chain from permit → catch → sale is recorded by the state.

So when we say our salmon is caught by our family, it isn't a story — it's a state record. Here are our permits.

Our family's Bristol Bay setnet permits

Fisherman Role CFEC Permit (Bristol Bay setnet, S04T)
Tony Neal Founder & Commercial Fisherman (since 1987) S04T 60274 L Profile
Gwen Neal Co-Founder & Commercial Fisherman S04T 60302 A Profile
Sarah O'Neill Commercial Fisherman & Family Partner S04T 60039 O Profile
Owen Olsson-O'Neill Commercial Fisherman & Family Partner S04T 60377 W Profile

How to verify a permit yourself

  1. Go to the State of Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (CFEC) public permit search: cfec.state.ak.us/plook. It opens on the Permits tab.
  2. In the Serial box, type only the five digits of the permit, for example 60274 for Tony. No letters and no spaces.
  3. In the Fishery box, type S04T: the letter S, the number zero, the number four, the letter T. (With the letter O instead of zero, the search finds nothing.)
  4. Optional: type the current year (for example 2026) in Year(s) to see only this year's record.
  5. Click Find. The row shows the year, the fishery — S04T = Bristol Bay salmon set gillnet — the permit (for example 60274 L, Permanent), the status "Permit holder" and the holder's name, confirming a current Alaska commercial salmon permit held by that individual.

Shortcut: search by name instead. Lastname NEAL with Fishery S04T and the year returns Tony and Gwen; Lastname ONEIL with the same Fishery and year returns Sarah and Owen.

CFEC is an independent State of Alaska government body — not us. That's the whole point: the proof lives on a government server we don't control.

Shop the salmon our family caught →