Two fish firms snag export honors

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell yesterday issued this press release naming recipients of the 2010 Governor's North Star Awards for International Excellence.

Two Alaska seafood companies took the honors for export excellence, the Seafood Producers Cooperative based in Bellingham, Wash., and the Anchorage-based Coastal Villages Region Fund.

Here's what the governor's office had to say about the two companies:

Seafood Producers Cooperative, with 520 members, is the oldest, largest and most successful U.S. seafood cooperative. As a co-op of hook-and-line fishermen for salmon, halibut and black cod, SPC and its members are representative of Southeast Alaska’s fishing communities. With significant investment in its Sitka facilities, SPC was recognized for quality processing and its efforts to market seafood internationally.

Coastal Villages Region Fund is a nonprofit corporation comprised of 20 member villages along the Kuskokwim coast, from Scammon Bay to Platinum. CVRF participates in the Western Alaska Community Development Quota program and uses earnings from the Bering Sea pollock, cod and crab fisheries to provide economic development and other opportunities for its 9,300 residents. In 2009, CVRF completed construction of a $40 million salmon processing plant in Platinum. CVRF began direct international marketing and recently opened an office in Japan.