The troubled Upper Cook Inlet commercial salmon fishery is losing one processing company and gaining another ahead of its 2022 season.
Copper River Seafoods announced March 28 that it will withdraw from its operations in Kenai and Kasilof this year. In a letter issued to the industry, CEO Scott Blake said the withdrawal was due to a combination of changes to the Cook Inlet management plan, rising production costs and a poor sockeye salmon forecast. The company will no longer buy salmon in Kenai, as it did last year; previously, the company bought fish in Kasilof as well, but stopped buying fish there mid-season in 2020.
“We continue committed to building strong groundfish programs on the peninsula in Homer and Whittier, as well as our Cordova location,” Blake said in the letter.
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