The following is a brief history and description of Icicle Seafoods' Star
Division. You may request a particular worksite and we will do our best to
accommodate but we cannot guarantee your placement. In fact, an employee may be
required to transfer to a different location depending on the staffing needs
within the company.
The Arctic Star is the largest of Icicle's non-motorized processing barges, and
measures 265 feet long and 50 feet wide. A former chemical barge, the Arctic
Star was modified into a processing barge in 1979. The Arctic Star has
processed sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay, pink salmon in both Southeast and
Central Alaska, herring in Togiak and Norton Sound, and crab in Dutch Harbor
and the Pribilof Islands. During the winter crab fisheries, the Arctic Star is
moored at St. Paul Island where she can house up to 170 workers. After the crab
seasons end, the Arctic Star generally moves to Togiak to process roe herring
and then on to Bristol Bay for salmon. The salmon crew is usually about 140
people.
The Bering Star is a 220-foot
processing barge, which means it is not self-propelled, but is instead towed
from location to location. The barge hull has a long history as a cargo barge
(including hauling bananas in the Philippines) and was converted to a seafood
processor by Icicle Seafoods in 1979. In the ensuing years, the Bering Star has
processed salmon from SE Alaska to Bristol Bay and most points in between. It
also has a long history in many herring fisheries along the coast of Alaska,
and has processed crab in Dutch Harbor over the years. The Bering Star has also
processed Black Cod and Pacific Cod.
The Bering Star's general schedule is to process Opilio Crab and Pacific Cod in
Dutch Harbor beginning in January. The season length depends on the quota set
by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The Bering Star can house up to 131
workers at peak production. After the crab season, the Bering Star is usually
towed to Bristol Bay for the Togiak Roe Herring fishery. Crew size for herring
is about 80 people. In June the Bering Star participates in the Bristol Bay
King and Sockeye salmon fishery, the largest salmon fishery in the world. Most
often she is anchored at Clark's Point near Dillingham for the salmon season,
which usually runs from mid-June through the third week of July. Salmon crew
sizes vary from 85 to 115.
The Discovery Star is Icicle's smallest processor at 158 feet long and 1432
gross tons. Originally built in 1965 as a Gulf mud boat named the M/V Heavy
Tide, she was converted to an Alaskan processing vessel in 1985 and renamed the
SnoPac Alaska. Icicle Seafoods purchased the vessel in 1988 and changed the
name to the Discovery Star. The Discovery Star operates in Dutch Harbor for
Pacific Cod, herring fisheries in Togiak and Norton Sound and most often
processes salmon for the summer in Bristol Bay and southeast Alaska. She
carries a maximum of 65 crewmembers, but often operates with less.
The Northern Victor is the largest of Icicle's processing vessels at 8902 gross
tons. She was built in 1945 as the cargo vessel "Marengo" in Wisconsin for the
U.S. war effort. Released from the U.S. Reserve Fleet, she was converted in
1972 to the oil well drilling ship "Ocean Cyclone" in Beaumont, Texas, adding a
drilling tower and other drilling related equipment, a new engine room, 40 feet
in length and 20 feet in beam to bring her to present dimensions of 380 feet
long and 70 feet wide. After a successful career drilling for oil in the Middle
East and South America, the vessel was retired in Brazil in 1986. Previous
owners took the vessel to South Africa for removal of drilling related
equipment in 1988. The Northern Victor was returned to the United States and
converted to a fish processing vessel in Panama City, Florida, in 1989 and
1990. Since July 1990 the Northern Victor has operated in Alaska and produced
various seafood products as the second largest processing vessel in the United
States fishing industry. Icicle acquired the Northern Victor in late 1999 and
subsequently completed major processing equipment additions and improvements
that have made her the most versatile processing vessel in the U.S. industry.
With quarters for 222 crewmembers she processes Alaskan Pollock at her primary
operating base in the Aleutians Islands near Dutch Harbor. An onboard rendering
plant produces a high quality fish meal and fish oil from the normal processing
waste by-products and insures a maximum recovery from the purchased fish.
Egegik, a small village located in the north-east portion of Bristol Bay, is
the site of Icicle’s most recent acquisition. This canning and freezing
facility was purchased in the spring of 2005. Located on the south bank of the
Egegik River, it is ideally situated for prompt processing of the abundance of
Sockeye Salmon traveling up river to the spawning beds in Lake Becharof. The
cannery itself is quite old having been established in the 1890’s and several
buildings dating back to the 1920’s and 1930’s are still in use, each of them
having the massive wooden beam construction common to that period. Although the
official 2000 census estimated the Egegik village population at 116, this
number can increase by as much as 15 times during the salmon season. Along with
the multitudes of fisher folk intent on turning fish into dollars, Icicle
brings in a crew of about 200 people for processing salmon from mid-June
through the first week of August. As the Bristol Bay season begins to wind down
that crew size will fall as we shift seasoned employees to our other processing
facilities throughout the state. Once the crew is gone, our interest quickly
turns to cleaning, lubricating, and winterizing the plant and living
accommodation so we'll have a smooth start-up the following Spring.
