LocalCoho, a US land-based producer of coho salmon in Auburn, New York, ceased operations on Friday (Jan. 31), leaving 13,000 salmon to a local food bank. However, the donation came with a catch in that the fish were fresh -- so fresh that they were still alive -- according to the Associated Press.

The 13,000 coho salmon amount to 40,000 pounds of high-quality protein that could be distributed to thousands of families through the Food Bank of Central New Jersey. If the food bank wanted the fish, though, it needed to figure out a way to harvest the fish and process them into frozen fillets before the facility shuttered.

While LocalCoho could process about 600 fish a week by hand, the company faced a deadline in less than a month to clear out the 13,000 salmon remaining in its tanks. It decided to donate the fish as a means to clear them out.

Fortunately for the food bank, dozens of volunteers have stepped up to help staff scoop out the fish, harvest them, and cold-pack them to send to a processor. With the help of 42 volunteers and free rides from Brown Carbonic's refrigerated trucks to a processor an hour away, the food bank will ultimately be able to provide 26,000 servings of protein to those who need it most, AP reported.

LocalCoho, which first launched six years ago in the Finger Lakes region, made the decision to shut down operations last week, as confirmed by Undercurrent News last week.

The company landed a multimillion-dollar investment from Rodger May, the former owner of the Peter Pan Seafood Company based in Bellevue, Washington, and Norwegian seafood investor and entrepreneur Per Heggelund, in 2023.

However, that was not enough to keep the company going. Minority shareholder Phil Gibson told Undercurrent the decision to shut down was made by the new majority shareholder that took control of the company around 18 months ago. Gibson the ownership group recently made the decision to halt additional funding for the company.