Public seafood processing and cold storage facilities

Are they right for your community?

Date: 10/31/2003
Contact: Brian Paust or Sunny Rice, Marine Advisory Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks, office in Petersburg, Alaska, 907-772-3381. Or contact Beverly Bradley, Marine Advisory Program office in Anchorage, Alaska, 907-274-9691.
NR: SG-2003/NR210

Cold storage conference Web site

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Coastal communities across Alaska are looking for ways to help fishermen and seafood businesses remain competitive in an increasingly difficult global marketplace. Some communities are considering building publicly owned cold storage facilities as way to keep their local economy afloat.

Experts on a variety of cold storage issues, such as planning, engineering, logistics and using cold storage to improve seafood marketing, will gather in Anchorage on November 13 and 14 to offer their advice and perspective on the issue in a workshop at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Russ Crabtree of the Port of Brookings Harbor, Oregon, will be on hand to offer a firsthand account of building a community cold storage facility. Mike Fisher of Northern Economics will discuss business planning for cold storage operations, while colleague Patrick Burden will explain the issues involved with conducting a cold storage feasibility study. There also will be a panel discussion with private cold storage managers in the Pacific Northwest. Quentin Fong of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Marine Advisory Program will discuss ways to use cold storage to take advantage of regional marketing opportunities. Resource economist Merrick Burden will describe a new decision model, developed recently at Oregon State University, to anticipate costs and revenues from coastal cold storage projects in the planning stage.

The workshop will be held at the UAA Commons Building, Room 107. There is a cafeteria on site and parking is free. A fee of $75 will be charged. Presentations and technical information will be available on the Marine Advisory Program Web site following the workshop. To register or to learn more, please visit the workshop Web site or call the Marine Advisory Program office in Anchorage at 907-274-9691.

The workshop is sponsored by the Marine Advisory Program and Alaska Sea Grant College Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, as well as Washington Sea Grant, Oregon Sea Grant, the Alaska Energy Authority, and the Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development.