Gathered by Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Icicle Seafoods Inc., a diversified Seattle-based seafood harvesting and processing firm, plans to expand its product mix with the acquisition of Smoki Foods, also of Seattle.

The deal will include Smoki Foods subsidiaries American Gold Seafoods, the only U.S.-owned and operated salmon farming company, and Cypress Island Seafoods, a processing plant in Blaine, Wash.

Smoki Foods is a producer and distributor of seafood specializing in production of farmed salmon, and the further processing and distribution of wild-caught seafood harvested in Alaska waters. The company, owned by Rodger and Lisa May, is one of the largest producers fillets and value added salmon products in the Pacific Northwest.

Icicle is also recently entered into a farmed salmon partnership in Chile, said Terry Leitzell, an Icicle spokesman.

Though based in Seattle, Icicle has its roots in Petersburg, Alaska, where in the winter of 1965 local fishermen purchased the Pacific American Fisheries cannery. The company was incorporated as Petersburg Fisheries Inc., the beginning of what would eventually become Icicle Seafoods.

Don Giles, president and chief executive officer of Icicle, announced the definitive agreement to acquire Smoki Foods on April 24.

“Smoki operates the only substantial farmed salmon operation on the West Coast and is well-regarded for its high quality and efficient salmon farming operations and further processing and distribution of farmed and wild-caught seafood,” Giles said.

“The combination of these businesses will provide both Smoki Foods and Icicle Seafoods substantially expanded access to seafood resources, and will enable them to provide broader and deeper product mix to their customers. Smoki Foods' unique product mix, talented and dedicated employees, as well as its proximity to Icicle Seafoods, make it a perfect fit with the strategic direction of our company.”

Paine and Partners LLC, the San Francisco and New York-based private equity firm that acquired Icicle Seafoods in September 2007, had a key role in facilitating the transaction and arranging financing to close the deal. W. Dexter Paine III, a founding partner of Paine and Partners, said the transaction would help accelerate Icicle's growth while strengthening its position as one of the world's leading diversified seafood harvesting and processing companies.

Icicle's core business is the primary processing of seafood, including salmon, pollock, crab, halibut, cod, sablefish and herring in all major fisheries in Alaska, with onshore and floating processing facilities. Other operations include production of surimi-based seafood products in Bellingham, Wash., as well as importing and trading of other seafood products.

An arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association has entered a substantial interim award in Wrangell Seafoods' favor as damages for breach of contract by two seafood marketers.

The interim award by arbitrator Thomas Brewer found Royal Greenland U.S. and Ed Bahrt and Associates LLC jointly liable to Wrangell Seafoods for an undisclosed sum, in addition to attorney fees and litigation costs in an amount still to be determined. Brewer dismissed all counterclaims asserted against Wrangell Seafoods by Royal Greenland U.S. and Ed Bahrt and Associates.

Douglas Roberts, chairman of Wrangell Seafoods, said the award could not have come at a better time. Royal Greenland U.S. and Ed Bahrt and Associates LLC's breaches of exclusive purchase agreements with Wrangell Seafood's created severe hardships over the last 18 months for both employees of Wrangell Seafoods and the entire community of Wrangell, Roberts said.

Legislation to establish a federal program to ensure commercially distributed seafood in America is fit for consumption was approved April 24 by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

The measure, authored by Sens. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Dan Inouye, D-Hawaii, would expand authority of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration so the agency could work closely with the Food and Drug Administration to test seafood imports, inspect foreign seafood facilities, and track domestic seafood shipments.

The bill would also expand the authority of the FDA to hold seafood imports that are suspected of being contaminated for further testing. Funding to implement the program has been authorized at $15 million through 2013 and would allow for additional laboratories to analyze imported seafood.

Legislation introduced in Congress April 24 would close the gaps in federal law that currently allow illegal, underreported and unregulated fish products to enter the country.

The International Fisheries Stewardship and Enforcement Act of 2008, introduced by Sens. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, would strengthen U.S. fisheries law enforcement programs and would assist developing countries with fisheries monitoring and enforcement.

IUU fishing, which accounts for nearly $9 billion annually, “steals billions every year from those fishermen who obey the law,” Stevens said.

IUU harvests are in violation of established laws and treaties and lack any regulations or controls. Fish taken by IUU fishing are also not accounted for in official reporting. This undermines the science-based fisheries management promoted by the Magnuson-Stevens Act and embraced by other responsible fishing nations, he said.

The bill would create both the International Fisheries Enforcement Program and the International Fisheries Stewardship and Enforcement Act. The first would extend law enforcement authorities across federal agencies and would authorize better coordination and resource sharing in investigations.

The second would establish an International Cooperation and Assistance Program to authorize assistance to developing countries on fisheries monitoring and enforcement.