The Atka Pride Seafoods processing facility, a joint venture
of APICDA Joint Ventures, Inc. and the Atka Fishermen’s Association, will open
April 27, closely paralleling the anticipated seasonal closure date of Icicle
Seafood’s Adak facility.
APICDA Joint Ventures, a wholly owned for-profit subsidiary
of the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association, made the
announcement March 6.
Icicle Seafoods did not respond to repeated requests for
information about whether its Adak plant would operate this summer, but
industry sources said that the company’s plant manager told the Adak City
Council earlier that the plant would not operate this summer because generating
power is too expensive during the slower fishing months.
Atka Pride Seafoods is a joint venture between APICDA Joint
Ventures Inc., and the Atka Fishermen’s Association, a non-profit local
fishermen’s association.
John Sevier, APICDA’s chief operating officer, said the
community development association is pleased to have the Atka plant open early
this year.
“This will allow us to get an earlier than usual jump on the
season, particularly for sablefish,” Sevier said. “And it will provide
continued local markets for fishermen currently delivering to Adak so they
don’t have to make the long run to Dutch Harbor.”
Larry Cotter, chief executive officer of APICDA, said he did
not know what the impact of Icicle’s Adak plant closure would be on the Atka
Pride Seafoods facility.
The Atka Pride Seafoods’ facilities are at Atka, some 100
miles east of Adak and 360 miles west of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor. The Atka plant
employs about 20 to 25 people, mostly local.
Sevier is urging fishermen who wish to deliver to Atka Pride
Seafoods to call him or Ken Smith at 907-771-4200. It will be important for
fishermen interested in delivering to Atka to work with the company to ensure
their needs are addressed in advance, Sevier said.
Atka Pride Seafoods was formed in 1994. Initially a small
plant focused on processing the local halibut CDQ quota held by Atka residents,
the plant has expanded over the past few decades and now buys and processes
halibut and sablefish CDQ and individual fishing quota and Pacific cod.
Two years ago a $4 million plant expansion was completed,
and last year a new $1.5 million dock to deep water was constructed. Plans are
being developed now to construct a new bunkhouse and substantially expand the
processing and storage capacity of the plant in 2014. When the expansion
project is complete, the plant will operate on a year round basis.