Annette Island Packing plant reopens after 5-year closure

The Metlakatla Indian Community’s Annette Island Packing Co. has reopened after a five-year closure.

About 100 people gathered on June 14 to start the summer fishing season with a blessing of the fleet and to celebrate the return to work of the seafood processor which has operated in the community for more than 100 years.

AIP was founded as a cannery in the late 1800s and operated year-round until 2019, when the plant reduced its operations due to rising costs and other liabilities, according to a report from the Metlakatla Indian Community.

Mayor Albert Smith said the “fish processing side” of AIP has been shuttered since 2019, but the facility has been operating as an ice house. For the past five years, Metlakatla fishermen had to sell their catches to tenders on the fishing grounds or run to processing plants in neighboring communities such as Ketchikan.

This year, fish processing is back underway at AIP. The plant began buying troll-caught king salmon and halibut from local fishermen in April, which Smith said was part of “a soft opening.”

“With the king salmon and halibut, they’re just sent out fresh,” Smith said. “No freezing from the Annette Island Packing side. They come from the fishing vessels already dressed, so we just got to box them and ship them.”

“We’re starting off small-scale, and we’re working our way back into the swing of things,” the mayor said.

Circle Seafoods, a Washington-based seafood company, this year is leasing part of the AIP facility and will be buying fish from gillnet and seine fishermen at the Annette Island plant, the mayor explained.

“Circle Seafoods is leasing a small portion of the cold storage site, and they’re going to run their operations out of there this summer,” Smith said. “I’d say Circle Seafoods is leasing a quarter of it, and then three-quarters of it is still Annette Island Packing.”

Circle Seafoods co-founder Charlie Campbell said during a June 21 phone call with the Ketchikan Daily News that, this summer, Circle Seafoods plans to purchase all species of salmon from gillnet and seine boats that tie up to sell at the AIP plant.

The mayor estimated that about 30 to 40 gillnetters and 12 to 17 seiners are gearing up to go fishing out of Metlakatla.