NSEDC buys controlling interest in Glacier Fish Co.

The Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation is acquiring a controlling interest in the Glacier Fish Company, a Seattle-based fishing and trawl operator in the Bering Strait, they announced last Tuesday.

“Building on our long history with Glacier Fish Company, NSEDC has further strengthened our relationship with the Seattle-based at-sea fishing and processing company by increasing our ownership share,” NSEDC announced October 26.

NSEDC, a community development quote company representing 15 communities, and its wholly owned subsidiary Siu Alaska Corporation have been Glacier’s largest individual owners for more than 20 years.

“Glacier Fish Company, a leader in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, has been a primary and fundamental component of NSEDC’s activities and success since the formation of the CDQ Program,” said Frank Katchatag, the chair of the NSEDC Board of Directors. “Three decades of partnership with GFC have intertwined its operations with ours, and we cannot be prouder to assume control of the company,” he said in a Glacier press release.

The purchase is expected to go through by the end of the year.

NSEDC is holding a runoff election to fill the Nome representative seat on its board of directors following the removal of incumbent Adem Boeckmann earlier this year. To win the NSEDC seat, a candidate must get 40 percent or more of the vote, which none of the four candidates running during the October 5 municipal elections earned. The run-off election between JT Sherman, who earned 39.18 percent of the votes in October, and Addy Ahmasuk, who earned 25.52 percent of the votes, took place Tuesday, November 2.