Trident Declines to Open St. Paul, Alaska Snow Crab Processing Facility

A decision by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to reopen the snow crab fishery this year could have offered some economic relief to the Pribilof Island city of St. Paul, with a population of some 300 people, but now Trident Seafoods says its plant there won’t reopen for economic reasons.

Trident in mid-October confirmed plans to work with stakeholders and the community of St. Paul, after telling the North Pacific Fishery Management Council during its October meeting in Anchorage that there were many reasons for its decision to keep the plant closed.

Unalaska public radio station KUCB noted that Shannon Carroll, Trident’s director of public affairs and fisheries development, told the council that the low total allowable catch (TAC) set by ADF&G would mean a significant loss for just opening Trident’s facilities there.

According to Carroll, poor conditions in other fisheries, including pollock, salmon and cod, would mean Trident can’t subsidize its operation in St. Paul as they have done during many years of low TACs.

Carroll said Trident was not expecting the snow crab opener even a few weeks ago, but he wanted to be clear that this was not a signal that the company was pulling out of St. Paul or pulling out of crab.

The snow crab TAC of roughly 4.7 million pounds this season is a small fraction of what’s traditionally harvested.

St. Paul City Manager Phil Zavadil told KUBC earlier this year that the city has had to boost utility rates and use money from savings to stay afloat.

Source: https://fishermensnews.com/trident-declines-to-open-st-paul-alaska-snow-crab-processing-facility/