Alaska Glacier Seafoods is a processing plant that is owned and operated by the Erickson Family in Juneau, Alaska.  We started our business in 1996 by fishing shrimp and halibut ourselves out of a 23-foot skiff and selling our catch out of a little building beside Western Auto.  We expanded our sales to a few local restaurants and grocery stores and found more demand than we could supply, so we started buying halibut and shrimp locally from a few fishermen, and so it began.  One thing lead to the next and within just a few years, we were hauling upwards of 3 million pounds of fish a year from the local docks to our small plant in the middle of town and it was clear that in order for our business to continue its growth, it would need to be located on the water.  We worked with Alaska Pacific Bank to secure $2.5 million in funding through AIDEA to build a waterfront processing plant in 2004.  It proved to be a critical turning point.  We have grown from a peak crew of 40 (5 permanent/35 seasonal) in 2003 to 150 (50 year round/100 seasonal) employees today.  We went from purchasing 3 million pounds of fish per year before the new plant was built to 9-10 million pounds annually and doubled the number of fishermen from 250 to 500 annually.  Our fish went from being sold in a small retail outlet to container vans being shipped around the world.  The financing package that AIDEA and Alaska Pacific Bank were able to offer us was exceptional.  The long term options with competitive fixed interest rates have worked well for us over time.

“The success of Alaska Glacier Seafoods can be attributed to hard work by our management team, fishermen and employees along with the competitive financing offered through AIDEA and Alaska Pacific Bank at a critical time in our growth.”  Kristie Erickson, Business Manager