The former Stinson cannery in Gouldsboro has become a symbol of economic frustration for many on the Schoodic Peninsula. After the last remaining sardine factory in the United States closed in 2010, it was bought by the Live Lobster Company and converted to a lobster processing facility with the backing of some USD 400,000 in public funds. A little over a year after the plant reopened, the facility was again shuttered when after Live Lobster defaulted on its loans from TD Bank. Some 70 local residents lost their jobs with the closure.
But this September, the plant was sold at auction to two buyers, the Groton, Connecticut-based Garbo Lobster Company and East Coast Seafood, based in Lynn, Massachusetts. The sale holds promise for the local economy and the Maine lobster industry, say seafood analysts and local officials. Whereas concerns swirled around the 2011 sale of the facility, many view the two seafood companies’ purchase of the plant as a good omen for the future of seafood processing on the peninsula.
Gouldsboro selectman Roger Bowen is optimistic about the sale. He said the plant’s buyers have projected to process between three million and five million pounds of lobster and employ some 80 people in 2013. Bowen feels such a goal is realistic.
“That’s fairly aggressive, but I think it’s doable,” said Bowen. “Garbo Lobster and their partners have an outstanding reputation. They’re experienced, they’ve done this before and they come into this with their eyes wide open.”
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Callifornia crabbing: Here's a fun video shot on the decks of the Majestik while catching Dungeness crab off the coast of northern California.
Over 500 lots of seafood processing equipment formerly owned by Adak Seafood will be sold at auction on Tuesday, June 18, starting at 10 a.m. Hawaiian-Aleutian Daylight Time at the Hilton Garden Inn in Anchorage Alaska.
The equipment is located in a recently updated 250,000 square foot state-of-the-art processing facility in Adak, Alaska. Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Hilco Industrial, which conducts 75 machinery and equipment auctions in a wide range of industries annually, will conduct the auction.
Adak Seafood opened originally as Ada Fisheries in Anchorage in 1986. The facility, updated in 2005, is located on the island of Adak, the southernmost city in Alaska near the western end of the Aleutian Islands. The facility processed cod primarily, as well as halibut, blackcod, crab and pollock, Hilco says.
Alaska fisherman and commercial fisheries activist Kevin Adams was elected chairman at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute board of directors meeting on May 9 in Anchorage.
The governor-appointed board consists of seven members: five seafood processors and two industry representatives actively engaged in commercial fishing. Adams was appointed to fill a harvester seat by Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2004.
With 38 years of fishing experience in Bristol Bay, Adams has long been an active member in the Alaska fishing industry, ASMI says. He has worked for both the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation and the Bering Sea Fisherman's Association, and represents Alaska fishermen on numerous boards.
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