Business - Business News

POSTED: Sunday, Oct. 04, 2009

Strong pink salmon run means plenty of work at Bellingham Cold Storage

If you were looking for the busiest workplace in Whatcom County last month, one of the contenders would have to be Bellingham Cold Storage.

The facility on Bellingham's waterfront is one of the few places in the region where commercial fishing boats can unload fresh fish. Thanks to a tremendous pink salmon run, the facility had hundreds of workers unloading, cleaning, freezing and canning fish 24 hours a day for about three weeks.

During that three-week period in September, BCS quickly went through its one million pounds of ice that it has stored on site. At times it had to place orders to bring in flaked ice from elsewhere, said BCS President Doug Thomas. BCS also hired about 300 temporary workers to handle all the fish coming in.

"It was an all-hands-on-deck situation," said Thomas. "It was one of those runs that you see once every 30 years. We sold more ice in that three-week period than we ever have."

It also was an economic shot in the arm for several tenants at BCS, particularly after a poor sockeye run earlier this year. Bill Graves, general manager at Trident Seafoods, said it meant hiring 150 temporary employees, extra shifts and overtime to get the pink salmon processed.

A variety of factors combined to create such a large catch this year, including having a larger-than-normal class that spent a lot of time in U.S. waters. Pink salmon are fished throughout this area, from the Hood Canal to up near Point Roberts.

"We had heard rumors that it might be a good run, but it's hard to tell until they start catching the fish," Graves said.

Trident actually had to send some of the fish to its facility to Ketchikan to help with the processing and canning. Some of the commercial fishermen estimate it's the biggest catch since the 1950s, Graves said.

The pink salmon season is over, but the BCS facility is now preparing for the chum salmon season, which should begin in about a week.

"From what we hear, it should be a pretty good season for chum," Thomas said.

OTHER FACTORS HAVE KEPT BCS BUSY

The outstanding pink salmon run took place after a good berry and vegetable season at BCS, which stores the food for shipment in the U.S. and across the globe. BCS also landed a new account, which Thomas declined to name, that serves the U.S. throughout the year in prepared foods.

"What is important about that account is it will keep us busy during the winter, which is usually the slower time of year," Thomas said.

The global recession has had positive and negative impacts on the facility. On the one hand, the economic slowdown has more people going back to the basics when it comes to eating, focusing on foods like fruits, vegetables and fish, all of which BCS stores. However, the recession also has meant fewer people eating at restaurants or business conventions.

Overall it's meant slightly less leaving the storage facility, leaving less room to store the food that's coming in. Thomas credits a high-tech coding system for helping keep it all straight.

"It's been a favorable year for us, but it's been especially nice to see so much activity on the docks," Thomas said. "Commercial fishing has been hurting for a long time."