City of Adak / Credit: Craig Hoyt

After a summer spent searching, Adak has found an operator for its fish processing plant. Adak Cod Cooperative will take over the facility this winter.

As KUCB's Lauren Rosenthal reports, they weren't the only ones interested in setting up shop in Adak.

Rudy Tsukada is the president of Aleut Enterprises, which owns the plant building on Adak. They were Icicle Seafoods’ landlord up until April -- when the company left the island and shut down the plant.

Tsukada says he wasn’t sure if they’d be able to find another tenant who was willing to go all in on processing Pacific cod.

Tsukada: "Things are not perfect right now in that arena with everything from the Steller sea lion issues to the bad markets."

The cod quota is high right now, driving prices down. Tsukada says he was concerned that might repel potential bidders -- but it didn’t.

Trident Seafoods made an offer, along with a few other businesses.

Tsukada: "To have multiple interests in the facility fairly early on -- that was a tremendous relief, knowing that our facilities were up to the standards that could attract interest during a down year."

In the end, they decided to go into business with Adak Cod Cooperative. The cooperative is really John Lowrance and Joe Kelso, a business team with a background in Bristol Bay’s salmon fisheries. Lowrance founded Leader Creek Fisheries. Together, the team runs a small processing plant in the village of Ekuk.

They’re paying the city of Adak $2.03 million for the processing equipment down at the plant. And they’ve also signed a 20-year lease with Aleut Enterprises.

Tsukada says Adak Cod Cooperative seemed like the best fit for the community.

Tsukada: "When we evaluate what’s in the best interest, obviously there’s things like lease payments, terms. But there’s many other indirect benefits. When you put those in total, we believe that this contract represents the best possible chance of delivering the benefits to our shareholders. And the city of Adak has the same mindset."

Adak’s city manager, Layton Lockett says the plant should up and running again in time for the cod A season, which kicks off in January.

Lockett says he’s looking forward to fish tax revenue. But more than anything, he’s excited to get a major liability off the books.

To keep the processing equipment from leaving the island after the plant shut down, Adak bought it for $1.8 million at a bank auction this June. Lockett used city reserve funds and some extra cash from a community development group to cover the cost.

He says the city will mostly break even now that they’ve sold the equipment to Adak Cod Cooperative. They’ll take ownership of everything except for a cement mixer -- something Lockett says the city will use for some long-awaited road repairs.