Adak's pollock processing bid blocked

JIM PAULIN

December 27, 2007 at 10:49AM AKST

For The Dutch Harbor Fisherman

Adak Fisheries won't be joining the "pollock club" any time soon in the Bering Sea, according to company representative and part owner David Fraser.

He has reported a chilly response from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in Anchorage on Dec. 11.

"They did nothing, which is the same thing as saying no," said Fraser, a former member of the council's advisory panel.

He said opposition testimony was delivered by representatives of Unalaska's city government, Trident Seafoods, Icicle Seafoods, Pacific Seafood Processor's Association and United Catcher Boats.

Testimony last about an hour, and council discussion took about four minutes, he said.

Bering Sea pollock processing and harvesting eligibility is restricted by the federal American Fisheries Act.

Fraser said Adak Fisheries' plans had involved buying Red Sea, a processing ship about 300 feet long, now working East Coast herring and mackerel fisheries. He said the council's inaction killed that plan.

Fraser said that the Red Sea would have processed B-season pollock in the fall at the Pribilof Islands in St. Paul's harbor.

In addition, it would have processed Togiak herring in the spring, and Bristol Bay salmon in the summer. During the winter A-season for pollock, it would have provided cold storage in Adak for that commercial fish.

Fraser said the Red Sea formerly operated in Alaska's commercial fishing industry as the Dona Karen Marie.

Adak Fisheries is the major private business at the former Adak Naval Air Station, about 400 miles west of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor.

It mainly processes Pacific cod, Fraser said.

The federal government turned the former military facility over to the Aleut Corp., the regional Native corporation.

The island community has turned into a near ghost town, with about 200 residents, compared with more than 5,000 when it served as a busy Cold War outpost before closing in the 1990s.

Jim Paulin, a regular contributor to The Dutch Harbor Fisherman, can be reached at paulinjim@yahoo.com.