Pacific American Fisheries, Inc.

Pacific American Fisheries, Inc., conducted salmon fishing and canning operations on the Puget Sound and in Alaska between 1899 and 1965, with headquarters in Bellingham, Washington.

Frank and E.B. Deming of Chicago formed Pacific American Fisheries (PAF) in 1899 following their purchase of Bellingham-based North Pacific Packing Company and its holdings of the Wright Brothers Fishing Company. The Demings established a shipyard on Eliza Island in Bellingham Bay, and in 1905, acquired the holdings of the Pacific Packing and Navigation Company (1905) in Alaska and the Puget Sound. Over the next several decades, PAF increased its Alaskan interests rapidly, establishing fishing and cannery operations in areas including King Cove and Port Moller on the Alaska Peninsula, and Excursion Inlet and Hoonah in Southeast Alaska. The company constructed the Ikaten cannery, and purchased canneries at Herendeen Bay, Metlakatla, Ketchikan, and Port Walter. Stock floatations in 1935 enabled further acquisition of canneries in Bristol Bay and Southeast Alaska, including Alaska holdings of the bankrupt Northwestern Fisheries company. PAF's Puget Sound interests included its headquarters, canneries and warehouses in Bellingham and also a cannery site and three fish traps at Point Roberts, Washington. Despite these holdings and continued attempts at product diversification, the company's fortunes declined from the 1930s onwards. Prohibition of fish traps in Alaskan waters in 1956 signfied an end to PAF dominance in the regional fishing industry. By 1965, the PAF board began to divest company interests and holdings, selling its Bellingham properties to the Port of Bellingham in 1966.

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