APPLETON (NBC 26) — One man saw the salmon spawn in Sturgeon Bay last year. Because he asked some questions, people got access to salmon in food pantries.
- Meet Long Vue, who says he has known hunger in a refugee camp and after immigrating to the United States
- Vue went to see the salmon spawn facilitated by the Department of Natural Resources last year
- After seeing how much salmon was thrown away, he partnered with Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and Blue Harbor Fish Company in Green Bay to get the salmon to people in need
About a year ago, Long Vue decided to see the salmon spawn and harvest in Sturgeon Bay. When he got there, he saw much of the harvested fish being thrown away.
"This is a lot of salmon, granted, can I take a salmon and eat it, if you're just throwing them away? They said 'Oh no, we cannot give to the general public,'" Vue said. "What? Is it still edible, still good? They said 'Oh, it's still good salmon.' [So] hmm, what can I do?"
Vue said he learned that day the Department of Natural Resources harvests the salmon eggs and releases them into the water. He said naturally, many salmon die after spawning. So, the DNR would send some of the salmon they gather to a couple of nonprofits. But, a majority of it would go to waste.
Vue says as a child, he and his family spent more than four years in a refugee camp because of the Vietnam War.
"I did not know what hunger is, because I was never full," Vue said. "It was always food rations."
He said his family made their way to Appleton in 1980, where they relied on food pantries.
"Growing up we don't get salmon at [the] Food pantry. You're lucky [if] you get maybe seasonal ground beef or drumstick," Vue said.
Seeing the salmon going to waste inspired him to get the food source into the hands of people who need it.
"Let's make this happen because we have this abundance of natural resource[s] right in our backyard," Vue said. "Why can't we just get that to the people that could be consuming that?"
Shortly after seeing the salmon run, as Executive Director of NEW Hmong Professionals, Vue was invited to be part of the Food Leaders Lab at Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin.
There, he shared his idea to save the salmon which was being thrown out. Their partnership, dubbed 'Innovation Upstream,' allowed three palettes of salmon to be given to people in need last year. A small harvest due to weather conditions, but one they are proud of just the same.
"It was incredible to see the response of people who are able to receive that product," Liz Wollenberg, Vice President of regional strategy and resource development at Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, said. "It's families who may never have the opportunity to have a piece of salmon like that. Just because when you go to the grocery store, it's outside of their budget."
Wollenberg said although the solution Vue proposed may seem like it was obvious, sustainable food rescue practices like this one are not always that easy.
"It takes a person to identify [the issue]. It takes, truly, funding to support it, people to get behind it and believe in it," she said. "This idea for the program came from a person who saw something and then went out and asked questions about it. It really takes the community coming together to identify problems and identify solutions."
In a few weeks, salmon will spawn again in Lake Michigan. Vue hopes for a bigger harvest to be able to supply more food pantries than last year.
