KETCHIKAN — Icicle Seafoods, a prominent Alaska fishing company with its roots in Petersburg, has been bought by a Canadian company that primarily raises farmed Atlantic salmon.
Cooke Seafood Inc., based on Canada’s east coast, announced on Monday that it had purchased Icicle for an undisclosed amount.
The deal is expected to be concluded in less than a month.
Icicle’s operations have expanded from its original operations in Petersburg to include both wild Alaskan salmon and salmon farming operations, but its purchase represents Cooke Seafood’s entry into the wild market.
“We have tremendous respect for the Alaska fishery and its highly valued brand in the seafood marketplace,” said Cooke Seafood President Glenn Cooke in the Monday announcement.
Icicle Seafood, now based in Seattle, processes more than 330 million pounds of seafood every year, and it harvests wild salmon, crab, halibut and other groundfish. The company runs two large processing vessels, the Gordon Jensen and the R.M. Thorstensen, and 11 fishing vessels starting at 103 feet long.
Its purchase will push Cooke Seafood’s production to more than 606 million pounds and $1.8 billion in sales, according to the announcement.
Icicle Seafood’s salmon farming operations are based in Washington state.
Christopher Ruettgers, CEO of Icicle Seafoods, said the purchase would allow the company to “focus on the expansion of our footprint in Alaska” and offer “access to capital to further modernize our platform, expanded market access for the products harvested by our fleets and a broader product offering for our customer base.”
