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A Portland, Ore., grocer’s commitment to wild Alaska seafood is paying off handsomely for a Naknek fishing family now delivering nearly 2,000 pounds of Bristol Bay sockeyes a week to the market.

New Seasons Markets to feature fresh Bristol Bay sockeye in support of Trout Unlimited campaign to stop massive proposed gold and copper mine.

PORTLAND, Ore.- In the latest effort of a national campaign urging consumers to “Vote with Their Fork,” trout and salmon conservation group Trout Unlimited announced today that Portland grocery chain New Seasons Markets will be featuring fresh, wild Bristol Bay sockeye salmon in its eight Portland locations in part to bring attention to conservation issues in the pristine southwest Alaska fishery.

Add lobbyist to the job description of chef. That is, if you're a chef like Greg Higgins, who takes his food politics as seriously as his mise en place. Led by a gal from Berkeley named Alice Waters, Higgins and fellow food professionals (including Peter Roscoe of Fulio's Pastaria in Astoria and former Seattleite Charles Ramseyer, now executive chef at New York's Wild Salmon) stepped out of the kitchen in early May to join fishermen, seafood brokers and other salmon champions for a week of politicking in Washington, D.C.

You can grill it, broil it, bake it, poach it, barbecue it, smoke it, turn it into croquettes or serve it raw as sushi, with lemon and butter, in a cranberry reduction sauce, with fennel or dill or garlic mashed potatoes.

Today, fishing boats are streaming from California harbors for the first salmon catch of the season -- and since 2005. For three weeks, until May 31, the waters closest to San Francisco -- from Point Arena (Mendocino County) in the north, to Pigeon Point in southern San Mateo County -- are open to commercial fishing of wild king salmon.

Here's a political movement I can get behind: "Vote With Your Fork" to protect and promote wild salmon.

This movement was cooked up by the folks who catch fish and those who cook it. They teamed up with an activist organization called "Save Our Wild Salmon."

A national consumer campaign to save wild salmon will launch in Washington today, as about 200 chefs from restaurants in 33 states call on Congress to pass laws to restore river habitats and tear down massive hydroelectric dams that have decimated salmon species along the Pacific coast.