Shipping salmon on a plane to Europe.

[finchasr]

Not to sure if this has been posted before. I have a friend from Europe here in Vancouver. If I was going to send him home with a few salmon and some smoked salmon. What would be the best way to go about it? Any help on the subject would be great.

 

[robertg]

Ship it frozen with freezer packs or dry ice, airlines will not allow packages with ice onboard, I would call the air carrier and talk to them. Also depending on where your friend is going, I have never had a problem going to England but my neighbor who is Swiss had his fish confiscated by customs in Zurich.

 

[gungadin]

It is always bestbest to check with individual airline to avoid disapointment. I have done it a couple of ways though. My brother took over a whole frozen salmon wrapped in newspaper and towels in his suitcase. it was still frozen when he got to Dublin, mind you it was a direct flight. His son took over a couple of salmon in a styrofoam fish box, they were frozen and vacuum sealed wrapped in towels and had dry ice around them. Frozen solid when he arrived home. at that time there was a limit to the amount of dry ice you were allowed to use, so it would be best to inquire.

 

[eriks]

I've taken frozen vacuum packed salmon and tuna to England and Australia before. I just wrapped it up in towels (or the best insulator in your bag) before going to the airport, and put it in my checked luggage. It was fine by the time we got there, still frozen. I declared it in Australia, as they get bent right out of shape with protecting their agricultural industry, the Customs guy took a look at it and said it was fine. Fresh fish (or any unfrozen product) is different, that they'll generally confiscate.

 

[Capt_Ed]

We used to get Guests at the lodge from Europe and the E.U has a problem with unprocessed fish into Europe. That was a few years ago so better look into it before shipping Mostly they had it processed at St Jeans ,then they were aloud a certain amount shipped to them.

 

[profisher]

I ship my clients fish vacuum packed and frozen in a hard shell Coleman cooler with newspaper to fill the dead space and 3 or 4 small blue ice packs on top. I tell them to put their contact info in a zip lock bag inside the cooler and write the same info on the outside of the cooler. Use shipping tape to seal it up once at check in at the airport. I also weigh the entire contents to ensure it weighs less than 50 pounds.

 

[sly_karma]

I declared it in Australia, as they get bent right out of shape with protecting their agricultural industry, the Customs guy took a look at it and said it was fine. Fresh fish (or any unfrozen product) is different, that they'll generally confiscate.

I use this to advantage every time I go back to Australia, take a package of smoked salmon and a tiny salmon pate and declare it along with the 6 bottles of Okanagan wine I usually bring. As mentioned, the quarantine people are very protective so declaring food items attracts immediate attention. Usually they confiscate the pate because it contains whole egg, but they're apologetic about doing so, to the point where they wave the duty on the wine. Worked every time so far and they thank me for declaring everything.