By now you probably understand the point of this message - for the next 6 weeks our supply will be reduced and we expect to only be able to meet about half of our normal demand. We apologize in advance of this and we wish there was better news to share. But we feel that the only thing worse than not meeting our customers' demand would be meeting it with subpar salmon.

If there is one thing our Craftsman Farmers are unwilling to compromise on it's their standards - and the Skuna Bay Standard. They have spent years obsessing over details and honing their process so that the chef can expect to consistently receive great salmon in "fresh from the ocean" condition. When they began offering Skuna Bay to chefs they set a standard that was incredibly rigorous: a 14 point criteria of size, external factors and firmness, thickness, texture of the fillet. This standard, which they eventually called "the Skuna Bay Standard" ensured that the fish our customers received would be unmatched in quality, always the best. To ensure that these great fish arrived to the chef in that same condition as when it came out of the water, they implemented their own unique process of harvesting, inspecting, selecting, processing, packing and delivering. This process became known as "the Skuna Bay Process". With this kind of diligence you can see the kind of obsession our Craftsman Farmers have over their craft.

Most of our customers know this, so this is all just background to what has been happening this past month at the farms: our fish have not been able to feed well at the farm from where we are meant to be harvesting right now. This means that much fewer fish than planned are able to meet the important 10 lb size requirement necessary to be considered Skuna Bay Standard and some would not have that firm texture our chefs demand. This means that we have a choice: during the important holiday season when more chefs want more great salmon, we could either harvest fish that do not meet that Skuna Bay Standard in order to take advantage of a key selling period. OR - not compromise on our quality standards at all - and therefore short the market.

This wasn't really a choice at all - we hate letting down our chefs that want to be able to serve Skuna Bay Salmon during the holidays but at the same time the chef has come to expect our fish to meet the highest in standards. Ultimately we couldn't ask our customers to forgive us for compromising the Skuna Bay Standard in order to allow more fish to make the Skuna grade. Meeting demand would be pointless if the fish we sent wasn't up to our Craftsman Farmers' (and therefore our chefs') standards. Some of our customers will probably not be impacted at all - they will get their usual order of Skuna Bay Salmon. Others might have their orders only partially met and still others may not get any fish.

By the end of January we will be back to full supply with our continued unmatched Skuna Bay Standard and we don't expect to have further issues in 2014.

We hope you understand and we thank you for your support.