Bering Pacific Seafoods, a subsidiary of the development association, operated from a floating barge with some shore-side infrastructure, including a bunkhouse, power facilities and an ice house from 2000 to 2002. Then the association "put it to sleep and went back to the drawing board," Cotter said. "We have been working since then to decide what we want in False Pass."

The new processing facility will fillet as much salmon as can be canned and fed to domestic markets, along with halibut and sablefish. Cotter said the association would like to operate the plant as much as possible throughout the year, but would proceed with caution because of the costs associated with operating on a year-round basis.

Once the facility is completed, it will probably be operating initially from May to October.

The new plant will be down by the new boat harbor, where Isanotski runs a storage business for crab pots and other fishing gear. The plan is to eventually get a boatlift to store boats on land, said Chuck Martinson, office manager for the Native corporation.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be opening proposals June 1, and awarding a contract June 22 for the $13 million small-boat harbor, including two rock breakwaters to create a mooring basin, and for dredging of the mooring basin and entrance channel, said Pat Richardson, spokeswoman for the corps in Anchorage.

All this should bring more business to Isanotski's gear storage operation, plus the corporation's grocery store, package liquor store, and bed and breakfast, Isanotski president Tom Hoblet said.

"We're also thinking of expanding our grocery store and getting into the fuel sales business," he said.

Isanotski's grocery, the only one in False Pass, is currently housed in a bunkhouse owned by Bering Pacific Seafoods, but the grocery is to be moved to a converted warehouse, which is 30 feet by 50 feet owned by the city of False Pass later this year, Martinson said.

In mid-May, Martinson was preparing to place orders for new False Pass sweatshirts to be sold at the store, along with fresh produce, and canned and frozen foods.

The whole composition of the community has changed since Peter Pan Seafoods "walked out and turned off the lights," Martinson said, referring to Peter Pan's decision to close its grocery and fuel tank farm last year.

The old cannery, built in 1919, burned down in 1983. Remaining structures at False Pass owned by the Seattle seafood processor are up for sale, but Martinson said he knows of no offers to date.

"The land is sitting there (in the middle of town) with a bunch of derelict buildings and three docks all in need of a lot of repair," he said.

"What the people here want is a situation where the people who live in the town work at the plant, not a fishing community with a bunch of migrant workers," he said. "We want a real economy."

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaska