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Pacific Seafood, the processing and distribution giant based in Clackamas, Ore., has halted all processing activity at its Eureka plant, dramatically scaling back its operations there and laying off an undisclosed number of local employees.

In an emailed statement, the company’s director of communications, Lacy Ogan, said the Eureka facility at 1 Commercial Street is still operating “but in the limited capacity of unloading oysters, crab, and groundfish as well as icing vessels” — i.e., providing flake ice for drag boats, salmon fishermen and other vessels that keep fresh catch onboard.

The seafood getting unloaded here in Eureka is now being shipped north for processing at Pacific Seafood plants in Oregon, Ogan said. The 83-year-old company has nearly 40 locations across the country — from Kodiak, Alaska, to Miami, Fla. — and employs somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,500 people nationwide.

Local fisherman Mike Cunningham, who has been selling his catch to Pacific Seafood for 35 years, said the company has removed much of its processing equipment and shipped it north to plants in Oregon, where it anticipates more abundant crabbing. 

“They are going to continue to buy crabs here, and they have some residual processing capacity,” Cunningham said.

Last month, Pacific Seafood abruptly pulled out of Crescent City Harbor, leaving Del Norte County fishermen without the vital services of its ice plant. Owners of the company blamed “onerous” California Environmental Protection Agency regulations for its decision to move the ice plant to Charleston, Ore., the Del Norte Triplicate reported. 

Ogan, the company spokesperson, told the Outpost that Pacific Seafood’s decision to halt processing here in Eureka was made due to “weak economic conditions coupled with a challenging regulatory environment.” 

She did not respond to a follow-up email asking how many employees are being affected by this consolidation, though she wrote, “All impacted Team Members were given the opportunity to continue with Pacific at another location.”

Dave Bitts, another local fisherman, said Pacific Choice remains the largest single buyer of crab in the Port of Humboldt Bay. 

“Regardless of what we think of the company, we definitely need that buying capacity,” Bitts said. “They’ve been it for a while.”

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While this cutback in operations will negatively impact the local fishing industry, Pacific Seafood is not likely to leave altogether — not anytime soon, anyway. 

Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery told the Outpost that the company signed a five-year lease renewal for city-owned warehouse earlier this year. Monthly lease payments for 1 Commercial street are a little over $13,000, he said.

“They’re still paying us rent and will continue to pay us rent,” Slattery said in a phone interview. 

Typically referred to as Pacific Choice here in Northern California, the company was selected as Eureka’s business of the month in February of 2016. At the time it employed between 100 and 200 people in Eureka, depending on the season. Local fishermen estimate its recent employee count at somewhere near 60, maximum.

Cunningham said that Pacific Seafood ramped up the processing capacity at the Eureka plant a few years ago, production slowed dramatically last year.

“They really scaled back this summer,” Cunningham said. “They normally process drag fish here, but the market was really poor.”

Slattery heard the same thing. “I do know [Pacific Seafood] stopped purchasing bottom fish [and] other products a couple months ago, forcing our fishermen to go find other buyers,” he said. 

The local drag fleet converted to fishing for shrimp, according to Cunningham, who compared the movement of equipment and boats to strategic chess moves. And he acknowledged that California has some unique market disadvantages. 

“The manager told me what their PG&E bill [costs] a month to run that plant even in low production mode,” he said, adding that the number was “pretty staggering.”

One local employee posted to Facebook after receiving his layoff notice. He said his last day on the job will be his birthday, Dec. 2.