The Peter Pan processing plant in Dillingham, Alaska. (Meg Duff/KDLG)
This spring, Peter Pan Seafoods was put into a receivership by a Washington state court after the company became unable to pay its bills. Silver Bay Seafoods stepped in to operate Peter Pan’s plants in Dillingham and in Port Moller. It also put in a bid for some of Peter Pan’s assets. But then, one of Peter Pan’s owners came back with a counter offer—and an accusation: that the bidding process wasn’t fair. He recently scored a victory in that battle.
Reporter Kirsten Dobroth has been covering Peter Pan for Undercurrent News. She spoke with KDLG’s Meg Duff about this summer’s developments.
Meg Duff: Peter Pan Seafoods was a fixture in Bristol Bay for decades, but last year, the company ran out of money and could no longer pay its debts. It didn’t go bankrupt, exactly; instead, it was put into receivership. Can you explain what happened?
Kirsten Dobroth: Right. So, bankruptcy is typically a voluntary legal process where a company in financial trouble would seek out protection from collections. In this case, Wells Fargo, which is Peter Pan’s major lender, petitioned a court in King County, Washington back in April to place the company in a receivership, which is a way for creditors to recover debt. Another difference is that a receivership is involuntary and allows a court to appoint a neutral party to sell off assets and pay back that debt.
Duff: Okay got it, and that request from Wells Fargo was granted by the court back in April.
Dobroth: Yeah, exactly. Wells Fargo said in its request that Peter Pan had missed payroll and owed tens of millions of dollars, and the court appointed a fiduciary group based in California to be the receiver.
Duff: Peter Pan’s King Cove processing facility is now closed, and Silver Bay is running its Dillingham facility and its Port Moller facility. But Silver Bay doesn’t actually own those facilities. Not yet anyway. What’s going on there?
Dobroth: Well, exactly that so far. Before this all happened, Silver Bay said that its plans for this summer in Dillingham and Port Moller were part of its long term restructuring plan. Since then, Silver Bay has reiterated that it intends to work with Peter Pan’s court appointed receiver on any long term plans for the facilities. But there hasn’t been a lot of news, at least as far as acquisitions from Peter Pan, outside of that.
Duff: This summer, while folks in Bristol Bay have been busy fishing, Silver Bay put in a bid. Then Peter Pan owner Rodger May swooped in to counter bid. Tell us the story of that bidding war.
Dobroth: I think it’s important to get out in front and say anything we know about these bids are coming from claims made by Peter Pan’s co-owner Rodger May in court documents. So there’s not really a paper trail to look at and say this person offered this much for this processing plant. That being said, Rodger May has argued – again, in court filings – that the process hasn’t fairly estimated the worth of some of Peter Pan’s assets. He says in one instance he learned of a bid from Silver Bay for some of those assets and put in his own offer, which wasn’t accepted. I guess one of the more concrete things I can say is that in the last week, Rodger May asked the court to approve his request to purchase eight Peter Pan assets, including the Port Moller processing facility and the fuel business in King Cove.
Duff: Oh interesting! So May is still trying to get some of Peter Pan’s assets back, but it’s not really clear if he is trying to get everything back.
Dobroth: Right.
Duff: In addition to claiming that Silver Bay had an unfair advantage, May also claimed that Peter Pan owed him money. What did the court say about those claims?
Dobroth: Yeah, again in court filings, Rodger May has argued that he and his wife are also Peter Pan creditors and owed about $40 million. He has also claimed that Silver Bay hired away Peter Pan executives as a way to buy up some of the company’s assets, which Silver Bay very quickly said was not true. The court won’t necessarily rule on all these individual things. But it did amend the receivership order recently upon his request to allow for more time and transparency for the sale of the company’s assets, which he had argued would benefit junior creditors – so people who are owed money other than Wells Fargo.
Duff: So now May can bid on any of Peter Pan’s assets. And so can anyone else. Do we know yet who will wind up running these facilities after the season ends, or is it still anyone’s guess?
Dobroth: Yeah, there’s been some rumors as far as the facilities that are up for sale, but nothing’s been announced. There’s also assets that aren’t real tangible property, like fisheries quota, so it’s hard to say who will end up with what when all is said and done.
A man from King Cove is now charged with murder after his parents died earlier this year in Anchorage following a house fire.
Joshua Gould is facing more than a half-dozen charges including two counts of first-degree murder and a count of arson in the deaths of James and Kathryn Gould.
Rumors of Joshua Gould’s detainment have circulated widely on social media in recent months, but charges were not formally filed until Wednesday.
Gould’s parents were longtime residents of King Cove, an Aleutian fishing community, and lived part-time in Anchorage. Their Anchorage home was burned down in February and their death certificates say they died of smoke inhalation and thermal burns.
Gould has a history of violent offenses, and was put on probation for domestic assault in April.
He’s scheduled to appear in court Friday on the new charges.
Peter Pan’s grounds are normally bustling with workers, but the boardwalks and bunkhouses are now empty.
Alaska’s fishing industry has faced major challenges this past year. Low fish prices and high overhead costs have led some of the industry’s biggest players to sell or shutter their processing plants, sending shock waves through the coastal communities who rely on those canneries.
Perhaps no other community has been harder hit than the small city of King Cove, near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula, 600 miles from Anchorage, the closest major city.
Its only seafood processor closed almost overnight this spring, and the city is reeling, not only from the loss of 75% of its revenue, but from the larger questions of the city’s survival.
King Cove didn’t even exist until 1911 when a seafood company, Pacific American Fisheries, opened a salmon cannery, and Unangax̂ folks moved in from surrounding villages to work there.
That fish processing plant grew to become one of Alaska’s largest. Peter Pan Seafood Co. employs about 700 seasonal workers at its King Cove facility during a typical summer. That means housing 700 people in company bunkhouses, and feeding those people daily.
The freezers and pantries were packed when the cannery, burdened by debt, closed, just before salmon season, so the company gave the food away to the community.
Ernie Newman, 65, just retired from a lifelong fishing career. Like most folks in town, he’s a company man.
“I fished for Peter Pan all my life, tendered for ‘em,” Newman said.
He was one of about 100 residents who attended the pop-up pantry at King Cove’s old school, filling his shopping cart with canned pineapple and pancake mix.
Community members attended a pop-up pantry on June 14, picking up food left behind by the seafood company’s last-minute closure.
“Peter Pan finally doin’ us a favor,” Newman said. “Oh, dandy.”
City Clerk Cora Rocili helped organize the food drive. Another lifelong resident, her parents met at the cannery, and she grew up living in company housing and hanging around the fish plant with the other workers’ kids.
“They called us the Peter Pan Brats,” Rocili said.
Just about every business in town revolves around fishing. Rocili moonlights as a bartender at MC’s Bar, near the harbor. But she says the bar is empty these days.
Everybody’s affected by what’s going on with Peter Pan. It’s sad to see. It’s definitely something I never expected to see,” she said.
Local business-owner Lillian Sager runs a food truck, and she said her business has been cut in half, forcing her and her husband to make a tough decision.
“We’re moving,” Sager said. “This is our home. This is where you know, our ancestors lived and we want to stay here, but we’re moving to Washington [State].”
Many of the folks in town are direct descendants of the Unangax̂ and European families who founded the town. That includes Mayor Warren Wilson, a third-generation King Cove fisherman who also runs a boat welding service. He said one of his welders has also moved away to find work, a trend he finds troubling.
Mayor Warren Wilson is a third-generation King Cove fisherman. He hopes the city can attract another seafood company to buy the Peter Pan facility.
“Once you start losing your population, you lose your school, and once you start losing your school, you lose children. Once you start losing children, you lose smiley faces, and then you don’t hear the laughter anymore. That’s when your community is going to die,” he said.
Wilson hopes the city can convince another seafood company to buy the Peter Pan facility. An Alaska-based company took over some of Peter Pan’s other facilities earlier this year, but didn’t purchase the King Cove plant. The town is hoping that someone comes along soon. Nobody made an offer in time for the summer salmon season, so folks are hoping it happens in time for fall.
The cause of a fire at Eagles View Elementary School on July 4 remains unknown but does not appear suspicious, according to a Thursday night statement from the City of Unalaska.
“The cause of the fire is currently under investigation, but does not appear to be suspicious in nature,” the statement said.
The Unalaska Fire Department responded to an automatic fire alarm at the school at approximately 11:45 p.m. Wednesday.
Firefighters did not observe visible signs of fire from outside, but discovered smoke and elevated carbon monoxide levels upon entering the building.
A power outage originally complicated the response, but firefighters still managed to pinpoint the fire’s location.
“Fire crews successfully located and extinguished the fire, which originated in an air conditioning unit,” officials wrote in the statement.
The fire was extinguished and the building turned over to UCSD Superintendent Kim Hanisch.
Updated at 8:55 p.m. on July 4, 2024.
The City of Unalaska released a statement Thursday evening saying the cause of last night’s elementary school fire did “not appear to be suspicious in nature.”
The Unalaska Fire Department responded to an automatic fire alarm at Eagle’s View Elementary School around 11:45 Wednesday night.
Original story published July 4, 2024 at 12:35 a.m.
Firefighters responded to a fire at Eagle’s View Elementary Wednesday night shortly before midnight.
As of 12:35 a.m. the fire was still active in the elementary school’s ceiling, with five firefighters inside the building, according to Unalaska Fire Chief Ben Knowles.
The fire’s cause is unknown at the time of reporting and there is no reason to believe anyone was inside the building, as the doors were locked.
Ravn Alaska has a new leader: Southern California businessman Tom Hsieh will take over the regional airline and replace former CEO Rob McKinney. Hsieh is the president of FLOAT Alaska LLC, the parent company of Ravn Alaska and New Pacific Airlines.
McKinney did not respond to several requests for comment.
Tina Hanley, Ravn’s chief commercial officer, said the company doesn’t have an official statement, but confirmed the airline is passing the baton to Hsieh.
Alaska Airlines has suspended its mileage-sharing agreement with Ravn in light of the news. Alaska Airlines Public Affairs Manager Tim Thompson said in an email to KUCB that the decision is the result of Ravn’s recent “transition in leadership.”
Many Unalaskans have recently expressed concern over the reliability of local air service, citing frequent and unexplained cancellations on the airline, which serves nine communities across Alaska, including Homer, St. Paul, Valdez, and St. Mary’s on the Lower Yukon River.
According to Alaska’s statement, travelers can no longer purchase and redeem Ravn flights on their website, or accrue mileage. Thompson said any travel already booked will be honored. Travelers who purchased flights before July 1 on Alaska’s website will still accrue mileage, as long as they include a mileage plan number.
The factory trawler Alaska Ocean seen in Dutch Harbor during A Season 2023.
Communities in the Aleutians are pushing back against proposed legislation that would bring stricter regulations to the Bering Sea trawl fishery.
The City of Unalaska and the Aleutians East Borough are among 53 organizations that signed onto a letter sent to U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola last week, urging her to withdraw H.R. 8507, a bill she sponsored in May.
The proposed legislation aims to add new regulations to where trawling can take place across the United States, not only in Alaska.
Trade organizations and some coastal communities whose economies rely on trawl fisheries have pushed back against the bill, asking the congresswoman to repeal it.
“If enacted, H.R. 8507 would directly harm fishermen and coastal communities in Alaska and throughout our nation, along with countless other people who rely on a healthy domestic seafood sector for food, jobs, and their way of life,” the letter said.
Alaska’s fishing industry has experienced major turmoil in recent years. The collapse of some fish stocks, like Bristol Bay red king crab, the decrease of salmon prices in world markets, and a flood of foreign fish have led to something of a crisis in Alaska’s commercial fisheries.
The Aleutians East Borough, which consists of six communities on the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Chain, has been hard hit by fluctuations in the industry. Low salmon prices last year and the closure of Peter Pan Seafood Co., which operated in the borough, have led community leaders to sound the alarm.
“Our major source of revenue is from raw fish taxes on seafood products, the majority of which comes from Alaska trawl fisheries,” said Aleutians East Borough Mayor Alvin D. Osterback. “These revenues fund our schools, community services, and our infrastructure.”
“If our trawl fisheries were to be substantially harmed by the requirements of this legislation … then it all comes to an end for us out here,” he added.
Bycatch has been a hot-button issue in Alaska’s fisheries, and Peltola promised to limit the accidental catch of non-targeted fish during her campaign. Dismal salmon returns in Western Alaska have created an existential threat to the region’s subsistence culture, and brought increased political pressure to limit bycatch in the Bering Sea, which some say is exacerbating the problem.
“Predatory industrial and foreign trawlers, ineffective management systems, a changing climate, and more have all played their own role,” Peltola said in a statement on her website.
But the letter’s authors point to research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Science Centers, which suggests climate change, not bycatch, is the reason salmon numbers have fallen so drastically.
“This science shows climate-related shifts in our nation’s marine ecosystems, including significant changes in the distribution of fish populations and other marine life,” the letter says.
The authors continue to say that Peltola’s proposed legislation would hinder regulators’ ability to effectively manage fisheries, calling the bill’s methods “archaic and counterproductive.”
Alaska’s seafood industry is the economy’s second largest sector, falling behind only oil and gas.
Stephanie Madsen, executive director of the seafood trade organization At-Sea Processors Association, said the legislation would hurt seafood workers, one of the largest working groups in the state.
“This bill threatens seafood sector jobs in Alaska and across the United States. More than 1.5 million Americans have jobs that depend on commercial seafood, and they deserve better than the politicization of fisheries science and management,” she said.
The summer season for Alaska’s largest trawl fishery, Alaska Pollock, opened June 10 and can last as long as Nov. 1.
Representatives from Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan’s offices arrived in Sand Point Monday, their first stop on a multi-city tour around the region. The trip, which will include stops in King Cove and False Pass, comes ahead of a strategic plan the senators are expected to present to the Secretary of Commerce this summer.
Matthew Robinson, a legislative assistant with Murkowski’s office, and Sullivan policy advisor Carina Nichols, are meeting with community leaders, fishermen, and community members to hear about the impacts of Alaska’s fishing industry on locals.
Coastal communities along the peninsula have been hard hit in recent years; fish numbers and prices have been low, putting the squeeze on local budgets and households.
The congressional representatives are also traveling with Abby Fredrick from Silver Bay Seafoods, and they plan to fly to King Cove Monday evening, where the community is dealing with the closure of Peter Pan, the town’s only seafood processor.
King Cove has recently implemented several state-of-the-art infrastructure projects, including a hydroelectric power plant capable of supporting the large processing facility.
The group plans to fly to False Pass Tuesday, where Silver Bay recently took over the Trident plant, before ending their tour in Bristol Bay.
Sens. Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski are expected to present a strategic plan to the Secretary of Commerce sometime later this summer.
