Snopac Products has purchased the Dillingham, Alaska, seafood processing facility formerly owned by Dragnet Fisheries, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported on its Web site yesterday.
The Seattle company expects to process 40 million Bristol Bay sockeye salmon and employ 100 workers at the plant this summer, said Snopac spokesman Norm Van Vactor. The company may also process halibut there in late May and early June, but salmon will represent the bulk of processing this year, he added.
The Bristol Bay sockeye fishery is projected to yield about 31 million fish this summer.
Since 2005, the independent, family-owned Snopac has operated a 336-foot floating salmon processor on Bristol Bay. The Dillingham facility will be Snopacâ??s first shore-based Alaska plant. The firm also has a processing partnership with Silver Bay Seafoods of Sitka, Alaska.
