Unalaska, AK – Adak Fisheries, the lone fish processing plant in the western Aleutians, officially filed for bankruptcy on September 11. According to court documents, Adak Fisheries owes money to between 100 and 199 different creditors. Independence Bank told the court they alone are owed about $6.5 million from three different loans in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The bank says the lines of credit were issued based on bogus invoices sent by Adak Fisheries and were secured by all of the processing plant's assets, including their equipment and inventory. An email sent from the plant's lawyer to the bank said they plan on selling the equipment to Trident Seafoods or another bidder and eventually liquidating all of their assets. The Fisheries also owes $1.3 million to Aleut Enterprises.

Adak Fisheries representative Dave Fraser said declaring bankruptcy was an inevitable step, and the company has been paralyzed since April. He said the business has had problems since crab rationalization took away most of their quota. Since then, the company has relied almost entirely on cod for income. When cod prices fell last year, the plant couldn't make enough money and went under. Fraser said he knows that the liquidation of the assets will not satisfy all of the creditors.

Adak city manager Chuck Mohn said the community of about 100 has very few economic opportunities beyond the fish processing plant. Adak Fisheries and the boats it attracted to the area provided the community with sales, fuel, and fish tax revenue. Mohn said he's not sure if they can keep the city running with out it. The town's only other major economic revenue comes from government contracts for cleaning up the former military base, but they are trying to attract another on-shore processor to the island. Other ideas for economic stimulation include promoting the Aleut Corporation's fuel storage, attracting the military's defense system to the area, and creating a small, value-added processing plant for specialized packaging of fish.

Correction: The original story stated that Adak Fisheries owed the Aleut Corp. $3.1 million dollars. The actual amount is $1.3 million.