Fishing to feed the poor.

Tuck Donnelly was fishing for pollock on a boat off the coast of Alaska in 1991 when he became upset about the large quantities of fish he was forced to return to the sea. Because of limits imposed by governmental regulations, he was forced to throw any salmon "bycatch" (fish caught unintentionally) overboard.

"I was out there on the deck throwing these big, perfectly good fish--15-pound Chinook Salmon--over the rail," explained Donnelly. "It's nuts that we're throwing all of this fish away," he thought to himself.

Donnelly conceived an idea to find a way to use the fish "bycatch" to feed hungry people. Putting his plan into effect, however, was another matter. Donnelly spent many hours meeting with officials from the National Marine Fisheries Service, members of the commercial fishing industry, and representatives of environmental lobbying groups. He traveled from Alaska to the nation's capital selling his idea. He had a difficult time convincing all of these groups that his proposed plan to donate fish to food banks would not undermine the current fishing regulations.

After two years of battling government red tape, Donnelly obtained a special permit allowing him to keep the salmon and other fish he caught out of season and donate them to food banks. Leaving his job as a fisherman, Donnelly began lining up companies that would store, package, and deliver the fish at lower than prevailing rates to participating food banks. Donnelly made an arrangement with America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest food-bank network, to distribute the frozen fish steaks.

Donnelly originally launched his project under the name Terra Marine, but in 1994 he changed the name to Northwest Food Strategies. A July 1999 article in Seafood Star reported: "This year, 2 million pounds of seafood donations have been pledged to NFS--a significant increase over the 70,000 pounds the group received in 1993, its first year of operation." By 2002, the organization, its name changed again to SeaShare, reported: "Total donations since the inception of SeaShare activities is over 10.5 million pounds, or 42 million meals. Last year's total net weight received for distribution was 3.6 million pounds. Our goal for 2003 is 5 million pounds." Another article in People magazine quoted a field director in the distribution effort: "The nutritional boost [from the fish] is phenomenal. This literally has the potential to change the face of hunger in the nation."

One of the beneficiaries of Donnelly's program was Seattle's Union Gospel Mission. Back in 2000, the mission started serving fish cooked and served by volunteer members of the At-sea Processors Association (APA), as part of the Community Catch program--a partnership between Donnelly's organization and America's Second Harvest.

James Jones, director of communications for the mission, issued a statement in 2002 that said: "Seattle's Union Gospel Mission deeply appreciates organizations such as APA who step into the gap of distraught people's lives and offer their time and money. It goes a long way towards breaking the cycle of destructiveness that afflicts so many of our clients."

SeaShare's name may have changed throughout the years of its existence, but its mission hasn't changed. Donnelly wrote in an online article: "It is important to understand that the success of SeaShare is not a simple equation. Our success is truly dependent upon the generosity of those companies and individuals who care about the needs of low-income people in our country. These partners have donated products, services, and money to support the work of SeaShare. This is their program, and our new name celebrates their commitment to the growing strength of Americans looking out for Americans."