Lummi Seafood Market brings fresh seafood to Whatcom County

Lummi Seafood Market owner Terry Phair has been fulfilling the market’s mission of providing Whatcom County with fresh seafood.

“[I was] trying to add value to our products, and keep our products close to home so we have food to eat all year long,” he said of opening the market in 2017. “That’s healthy for us, healthy for our community.”

The market offers fresh and frozen products, a majority of which are caught by Indigenous fishers. Some products that can’t be sourced locally are brought in from other sellers, Phair said. Popular products include wild sockeye, coho, king salmon and halibut.

Lummi Seafood Market also commercially cans salmon through its product line called “Salmon Woman,” which includes canned sockeye, king and coho in both regular and jalapeño.

Phair said while working for the market he wears different hats including diver, boat owner, buyer and wholesaler. Most recently, he has begun cooking.

“We’re cooks,” said Phair, a tribal member of the Lummi Nation. “Now we have a pop-up called Cha•k’os, which means fire pit.”

The Cha•k’os barbecues follow a traditional Lummi seafood technique where fish is cooked on sticks over an open flame. The pop-up barbecues will be held at Bellingham SeaFeast on October 5 and 6 at Zuanich Point Park in Bellingham and a Halloween event at the Bellingham Portal Container Village on October 31. Next year, Phair plans to expand the menu and availability of Cha•k’os.

Phair has been diving for 14 years, searching the Salish Sea for red sea cucumbers, geoduck, and green and red sea urchins. Phair said he has to meet state fishing regulations enforced by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. 

Sustainability is important to Phair, who incorporates it into his business by turning leftover seafood into fertilizer.

“If we harvest it ourselves, sell it ourselves and cook it ourselves, it’s more sustainable,” he said. “We’ve got to remember how to preserve and hold on to our salmon.”

Products can be found at Lummi Seafood Market at 4920 Rural Avenue in Ferndale, the seasonal Bellingham Farmers Market, during Cha•k’os pop-ups and at Bellingham Dockside Market, a bi-monthly seafood market at Squalicum Harbor.

“We have always been a people that survived,” he said.

To learn more, visit the Lummi Seafood Market Facebook page, lummiseafoodmarket.com or call 360/920-3447.