Scherer, who met her husband, Gary, here on vacation 13 years ago, divides her time between Honolulu and various settlements along the Bering Sea, where her family lives. Her family members and suppliers include Native Alaskan commercial fishermen from Kodiak all along the Aleutian Islands into the Bering Sea.

Isabella Scherer sells Alaska-caught salmon fillets through her company, Sugpiaq Salmon. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Raised by a single mom who lived a subsistence lifestyle in the remote Aleutians, Scherer grew up fishing. She is a vociferous opponent of salmon farming (which is prohibited in Alaska) and doesn't think much of river salmon, either. She believes it is only ice-cold waters, natural feeding patterns and a free-range lifestyle that give salmon the right oil content, flavor balance, color and firm texture.

Then you have to treat the catch right. She buys fish from a half-dozen fishermen who catch salmon in seines, nets which minimize impact on sea mammals and reduce bruising. These fish are processed at sea in a high-tech way that requires costly equipment and a reduced catch size so the crew has time to work with the fish. As soon as the salmon are released from the nets, they are bled at the gills, immersed in an icy brine where the heart slowly pumps out the remaining blood, chilled to a core temperature of 10 to 15 degrees, glazed with corn syrup and fresh water, then frozen to minus-20 degrees. Later, the fish are filleted while frozen using special saws.

The more common practice is to place whole, ungutted fish on ice in the hold until the ship returns to the dock, usually two or three days later — an approach that Scherer said can lead to bruised, mushy, waterlogged fish. "But it's still better than farmed," she said.

Isabella Scherer admits the word "frozen" is a barrier for some customers. Chef Elmer Guzman of Sam Choy's Diamond Head Restaurant listened to her pitch only reluctantly after he realized she was talking about frozen fish. But he took a sample and became so enthusiastic that not long ago he hosted a blind tasting for his own chefs to prove to them that frozen fish could taste good. He is also hosting a kick-off dinner for Sugpiaq July 15 (see story).

"It really has the flavor, and when I did the taste test, Sugpiaq came out (on top) two times in a row," said Guzman. Also, he said, "It's easy for a chef. It comes individually portioned out (sides, fillets or steaks; skin on or off), pin bones off, easy to store."

He also praised the color of the fish, not because it's brilliant or uniform but because it's appropriate to the species. Salmon range in color from fire-engine red (sockeye) to pale rose (pink).

Scherer deals in all five varieties of Pacific salmon:

• King (chinook), blush-colored summer salmon with delicate but highly desirable flavor, good oil content.
• Sockeye (red), bright-red summer and early-fall fish, very rich flavor, highest oil content.
• Coho (silver), silver-scale summer and early fall fish, similar to king salmon in taste, good for fillets.
• Arctic keta (calico), summer and early-fall fish, full-bodied flavor, good for smoking.
• Pink (autumn), summer to fall fish, pale and elegant in color and flavor, good for pairing with sauces or poaching for salads.