LAPUSH — “Just for the halibut” is a tired old pun, but that’s why a Chinese trade delegation visited the Quileute Reservation on Wednesday.
Led to LaPush by Lt. Gov. Brad Owen and Jimmy Chen, chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Seattle, the delegation sought all the halibut heads the tribe can provide.
“The head, we think, is better than the meat,” Chen said. “We think wise people eat fish heads.”
The halibut deal was arranged through Washington state’s trade office in Shanghai, China.
Currently, the Chinese buy halibut heads from Canadian fisheries in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
Buyers had told Chen: “We never heard that LaPush has this sort of resource.
“By the way, where is LaPush?”
Season opens soon
With the halibut season opening soon, the project must be developed quickly. The Chinese are so eager for halibut heads that a Chinese shipping company is willing to cut its price, Chen said.
Quileute Tribal Chairman Russell Woodruff wasn’t sure how many halibut the Quileute can catch under its current quota.
But Jason Roberts of the Makah tribe, head of the fishing cooperative in Neah Bay, said his tribe’s quota will be 500,000 pounds of halibut.
Those fish would render about 50,000 pounds of heads — enough to fill two shipping containers.
The halibut would be processed on the Quileute reservation.