Gorton's Seafood Notes High Int'l Competition to Get Frozen Seafood Brands in US Retail Cases  Gorton's Seafood says there is an ongoing increase in demand to get more frozen seafood brands in retail cases across the US market. According to Gorton's President and CEO Judson Reis, over 800 new brands of frozen seafood have tried to compete for space in retail freezers, many of them from overseas suppliers. The company said growth within the US's frozen seafood sector is being driven financially by the middle class and through the overall diversification of the consuming public and culturally by an overarching awareness of the health benefits associated with eating seafood. “In the past 18 months to two years, we have seen changes in consumers’ emphasis,” said Gorton’s Vice President of Marketing Chris Hussey. “They want meals that are faster to the table and with shorter and clearer ingredients statements. Simple, real food.” Pacific Seafood Group celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding at a gala event in Portland, OR over the weekend. The Group's President and CEO Frank Dulcich, who is also the founder’s namesake and grandson gave a keynote speech that thanked all of Pacific's employees, past and present, for the success of the vertically integrated business. "We have an awesome company. We have an awesome team, made up of incredible individuals. ... We are all committed to provide the healthiest and most sustainable protein on the planet. ... We are all committed to the next 75 years," said Dulcich. In other news, Alaskan chinook salmon runs in the Copper River and in the Southeast part of the state have been some of the worst on record according to a presentation from Ed Jones, Alaska's statewide Chinook salmon research coordinator. The poor king salmon runs in the Copper River and Southeast region run counter to improved runs in most other parts of the state. Meanwhile, High Liner Foods will add the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) certification program to its toolkit of credible Eco Certification Programs for wild harvested seafood. The move solidifies High Liner’s commitment to the Global Seafood Sustainability Initiative (GSSI). “We are excited to see the Alaska RFM Program recognized by the GSSI benchmark on July 12, 2016 as a credible Eco certification program. We look forward to working with our customers to help them understand the significance and importance of mutual recognition of the Alaska RFM as a credible addition to their responsible purchasing criteria,” said Bill DiMento, Vice President of Quality Assurance, Sustainability and Government Affairs. Finally, Pacific Coral was named the 2016 Partner of the Year by Performance Food Group (PFG). This is the highest honor PFG awards to a supplier each year.  Pacific developed and launched PFG’s very successful Bay Winds shrimp brand and also distributes over 100 of PFG's branded seafood SKUs. It took just four years for Pacific to become PFG’s largest seafood supplier. Earlier this month Pacific Coral was named the supplier of the year among minority-owned businesses in Florida.