Thursday, June 24, 2021

Saturday, August 29, 2020

Boat & Permit For Sale: F/V Harmony Isle

42' Sea Master Troller (Fiberglass Hull)
Turnkey Fishing, Processing and Freezer Vessel for Producing
Artisan Quality Frozen-At-Sea (FAS) Wild Alaska Salmon and Seafood




Includes boat, Alaska Power Troll Permit, spares and all fishing gear.

Interested? Let's Talk!

For more information please contact us on email through this blog. Click the link below:





Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Best Quality - 2020 ASMI Photo Contest Winner!

The F/V Harmony Isle Frozen At Sea (FAS) salmon picture taken by long-time crew member Nene Wolfe was a winner in the Best Quality category in the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) annual photo contest. 



Many thanks to Nene for entering this great pic!

Saturday, February 1, 2020

The F/V Harmony Isle Story

This blog provides information about the F/V Harmony Isle. This troller was purchased in Port Townsend, WA by Mike Rentel and his wife Karen Schmitt in November 2012. The boat had not been fished commercially for several years and required some intense rehabilitation in Port Townsend before it could be brought north to fish in Alaska.

After a shakedown cruise to the San Juans in December 2012, Mike and Karen finished their refit and took F/V Harmony Isle up the Inside Passage to their home port in Auke Bay, AK in April 2013. The boat has been progressively renovated and upgraded since then to improve its ability to catch, process and freeze salmon of the highest quality. Mike has commercial fished with F/V Harmony Isle for king and coho salmon, usually with a one or two person crew, throughout Southeast Alaska since spring 2013.

The vessel is for sale, and is currently located in Juneau, AK. 

Interested? Let's talk! 

More information about the vessel and FAS fishing in Southeast Alaska can be obtained by contacting the owners from the "Contact Us" link on the top right side of this blog, or just click the link below: 

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Do You Know Your Fisherman?

Mike and Karen are members of the Seafood Producers Cooperative (SPC). 

Click below to learn more about Mike's background courtesy of the SPC Alaska Gold website:

https://www.alaskagoldbrand.com/do-you-know-your-fisherman

Do you know your fisherman? | Alaska Gold Seafood


We’ve got all kinds of fishermen in our fleet. Some are poets, some are mathematicians. We’ve got painters, musicians, rocket scientists. Here’s Mike Rentel who comes from a mechanical engineering background with a minor in math and emphasis on machine design and metallurgy. With an MBA emphasis in finance and entrepreneurship and minors in philosophy and behavioral economics, Mike fishes with a crew that consists of a veterinarian and a cattle rancher, both of whom Mike considers smarter than himself.

Mike started fishing summers with his grandpa in high school, trolling out of Ilwaco near the Columbia River. After his grandpa passed away, he finished college, but started up again with a 32-foot pocket-seiner/gillnetter and in a couple of years moved up to leased crabbers and a crew of five doing “deadliest catch” king crabs and tanners in the North Gulf of Alaska in the winter while fishing dungies between Icy Bay and Yakutat in the spring.

Mike met his wife, a geology professor, while she was mapping the sea floor off the coast of Chilean Patagonia and Antarctica. As an engineer keeping all the water, heat and electrical systems running in the remote cold wilderness, she was impressed that Mike could fix just about anything. Being able to fix things on the fly is exactly what it takes to run a commercial fishing boat in Alaska, too.

This spirit of adventure, inherent in all of our fishermen, along with a knack for fixing things helped Mike and his wife win the Spirit of Admiralty sailboat race, the longest inland water sailboat race on the West Coast.

Eventually, Mike “downsized” to the Harmony Isle, a 42-foot Wahl/Seamaster freezer boat. “I specifically chose a freezer-boat because I was committed to producing the best quality seafood possible.”

Mike spends winters in Madison, Wisconsin. As part of our fishermen-owned co-op, Mike is just one of the fishermen owners of our company.

We think what’s special about our Alaska Gold Seafood is that it comes from a fishermen-owned company. What we sell is the fish we catch. It’s not uncommon that the fish sold in many places isn’t what they say it is—the fish passes through many hands before getting to you the customer. Though our fishermen would love to personally deliver fish to you, we think purchasing from our website is almost as good. Fish fraud has been around since before the days when Jesus’s disciples fished the Sea of Galilee. Fishermen being underpaid for their hard work has also been a common practice since biblical times. Which is why fishermen-owned co-ops like ours were formed. As owners of the business, fishermen-owners control their own destinies. We’re quite proud of the work we do. We do it with integrity and transparency. And with a deep pride in our quality.