The village of Quinhagak is hoping to sell fish to Seattle based company North West Sea Food Exchange after Costal Villages Region Fund stopped buying fish earlier this year. But the village is running into some unexpected problems that could prevent the partnership.
When CVRF said they were no longer going to support their commercial fishing program, they meant it.
“We need cranes to offload the boats," Warren Jones said. Jones is the manager of the native corporation in Quinhagak. He says the village cannot process fish or even transport it without CVRF equipment right now.
“We need forklifts to get the totes on the truck. We need the ice machine to keep the fish chilled," Jones said.
CVRF told Quinhagak in an email they would not be allowed to use equipment they had once used for the fisheries operation left in the village. Jones says he didn’t expect this, and now he’s worried the deal is dead.
