Peter Pan's King Cove plant will stay closed this winter as fishing industry turmoil spreads

In a major hit to Southwest Alaska’s fishing industry, Peter Pan Seafood Co. will keep its huge plant in the village of King Cove shuttered this winter, meaning that the company won’t be processing millions of dollars worth of cod, whitefish and crab.

“It’s one of the most difficult days of my life,” Rodger May, one of the company’s owners and a longtime player in the seafood industry, said in a brief interview Thursday. “It’s just a devastating time for the industry.”

The closure is the latest sign of the widening turmoil in Alaska seafood markets, which are contending with depressed global d...