WHITTIER — The Prince William Sound community of Whittier would normally be bustling with seasonal workers, but with Great Pacific Seafoods shutting all its processing plants, the town is feeling the loss.
In the tiny port town, which has a permanent population of 200, the more than 100 seasonal workers who came to the processing plant were vital to the economy, The Alaska Public Radio Network reported.
“The hundred plus people that worked at the plant used hotels and rooms and bought liquor and bought food, services, spent money every day,” said R.C. Collin, who owns the Whittier Harbor Store. “It’s gonna be a big bite for us.”
Seattle-based Great Pacific filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and closed a number of plants late last month.
Whittier had been a major outpost for the seafood company since the late 1980s. Many in the small town, where nearly everyone lives together in the 14-store Begich Towers condo building, said the seasonal residents were vital and that their sudden loss will have a large impact on the city.
“It’s affected the whole town,” said Bonnie Cox, bartender at the Anchor Inn, a restaurant, hotel and grocery store next door to the shuttered plant. “Out of the blue they came in and said they were shutting it down, pulling everybody out. Everybody’s scrambling to try and find jobs now, and there’s nothing to do, because we just don’t have the people coming in.”
Whittier Mayor Daniel Blair said he’s worried the shutdown will drive people away from the isolated community.
“I’m a little heartbroke,” Blair said. “It’s like having a great neighbor leave. You know, they were part of the fabric of Whittier. We’re a small community. I don’t want to lose anybody.”
Beyond the loss of the food processors, Great Pacific had regular contracts with tender boats based out of Whittier in the summer when they run fish and ice between the dock and fishing boats out. Robert Johnson, one of those tendermen, said he was forced to rush to find a new contract.
“It’s a rough hardship,” Johnson said. “I mean, if I had known at Christmas, or earlier in the winter I could have went out and scored a really nice contract. But they kinda had us dangling on a string at the very last hope.”
