Fire reduces capacity of new Bristol Bay floating fish processor

An electrical fire damaged one of three spiral freezers aboard Northline Seafoods' new floating fish processor Hannah, which is anchored in the Nushagak district of Bristol Bay this salmon season.

The ship is currently operating at reduced capacity following Sunday's fire, and other processors are taking over part of Northline's fleet.

On a recent visit to Hannah, a steady stream of whole frozen fish was pouring out of a large spiral freezer. Each fish landed on a conveyor belt was sent to the next step in the production line.

The frozen fish were part of the first shipments of sockeye salmon of the season from Bristol Bay fishing vessels bound for Hannah, Northline's newest floating freezer barge in the region.

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From there they went to the grading belts, where they were sorted by size and then placed in cold storage for processing later in the year.

“So it goes through a spiral freezer, where it goes in at the bottom, comes out at the top, gets graded and gets put into a box,” said Ben Blakey, Northline’s CEO.

Blakey explained that it takes just a few hours for the spiral freezers to bring the fish back to the desired temperature. The idea is that freezing the fish at these ultra-low temperatures, and freezing it quickly, makes a big difference in maintaining quality.

“Our freezers operate at about -60 degrees Fahrenheit,” Blakey said. “So they freeze the fish very quickly and at very low temperatures.”

But an electrical fire under one of the Hannah's freezers upended that plan. According to Northline, the ship's marine firefighting team was the first to respond to the scene and extinguish the blaze. No one was injured.

A Northline spokesperson told KDLG that freezer technicians and electricians are currently repairing the system.

Brendan Flynn, captain of the F/V Briney and fishing for Northline, said the company quickly alerted its fleet to the incident.

“I think most of us, or all of us, have had direct calls from Ben Blakey about what's going on and what they're trying to do going forward. So there's, I think, a lot of transparency,” he said.

Flynn said that in a message to the company's fleet shortly after the fire, Blakey recommended that boats consider switching to other processors if they had that option available.

“Those who had ready markets, a number of people, have already made the transition,” Flynn said.

Northline confirmed that about 100 boats were fishing for the company before the fire, and about half now work for other processors.

Flynn said he decided to stay.

“I’ve been fishing here for about 20 years and have always worked in the fishing industry. This company and the way they structure their business model represents the best chance for positive change – both in terms of paying fishermen and producing a better quality product – that I’ve ever seen,” he said. “So we’re keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best.”

A Northline spokesperson confirmed that all the boats that left did so voluntarily and that the Hannah has enough capacity for the fish on the remaining boats.

Norm Van Vactor was general manager of Peter Pan Seafoods and Leader Creek, and an advisor to Silver Bay Seafoods. He retired last year. He said it’s hard to see a setback for a newcomer, especially after a tough year for the fishery, and he can relate.

“It's just anguish and a real sense of sympathy. Because when something like this happens, you have fishermen who depend on our company to buy their fish, process them and pay for them,” Van Vactor said.

Northline has confirmed that five other processors in the Bristol Bay area will be taking over part of the company’s fleet to cope with reduced freezing capacity. These processors include OBI, Silver Bay, Peter Pan, Leader Creek and Red Salmon. None of these processors had commented before this article went to press.

Northline also confirmed that other processors had transported fish that had already been delivered by Northline's fleet to transport vessels. OBI confirmed that it had taken one of these transport vessel loads.

“I think it’s great to see the industry collectively respond and help a competitor when they can. Because you know it could be Hannah today, but it could be you tomorrow,” Van Vactor said.

The timing isn’t ideal: The Bristol Bay sockeye run typically peaks the following week. That means deliveries of salmon to the freezer barge should ideally start to increase. But Van Vactor said that may not be the worst-case scenario.

Nearly 20 years ago, he was working at Peter Pan when a fire impacted production capacity at the Dillingham plant. He said the fire happened at the height of the season. While other processors pitched in, there was little they could do.

“I think if there's a silver lining to this, it's early in the season. It happened at a time when there was a significant amount of capacity available,” Van Vactor said.

While this is certainly a setback for Northline Seafoods this season, he said, processors have experienced incidents like this before.

In a statement, Northline's Blakey said the company appreciates the support of its fleet and is making repairs in the meantime.

Northline told KLG that the Hannah is currently operating at about a third of its usual production capacity. The company said Wednesday it hopes to improve capacity over the next 24 hours and will continue to operate throughout the season.

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