As much as four million additional pounds of salmon will be processed at Ocean Beauty’s Excursion Inlet plant this summer due to market conditions favoring frozen product, senior Alaska operations manager Mike Forbush said in a statement read during a recent Haines Chamber of Commerce meeting.

The shift is expected to boost Haines Borough coffers in the form of increased raw fish tax revenues. The borough receives 1.5 percent of the value of fish landed within its boundaries.

Ocean Beauty is shutting down its shore-based canning operation in Petersburg this year and will instead tie up a ship to the dock there that has three times the freezing capacity of the plant, Forbush said.

“Petersburg has always been a good cannery but the market for frozen is better than the market for canned so it makes more sense to freeze,” he said.

Forbush said the company is “looking forward to a good year,” with markets improving except for canned product and salmon roe. The seine fishery, which centers on pink salmon and typically accounts for the bulk of the borough’s raw fish tax funds, is expected to be stronger than recent years though not as good as 2013, he said.

Forbush said the company “needs to increase its share of gillnet sockeye.”

“Fish price is based on an expected mix of species. If one species comes in lower than expected, it is hard to maintain the price on the other due to allocation of overhead, including tender costs,” Forbush said.

The strong American dollar is making salmon roe markets tight, Forbush said. “Europe is reluctant to buy at what we can sell at in Japan, and with Japan being the only volume market, they are reluctant to give any increase.”

Forbush said England is the single, largest buyer of canned product. “The pound is very weak right now, compared to the dollar. So even though there is very little product available, no one is interested in paying for it, even at a break-even price.”

Another concern for the company is that the U.S. Forest Service has condemned a bridge that gives Excursion Inlet access to its water system. “Maintenance and servicing it will be a challenge. Water is a very important part of the operation. Without it, we don’t run. We know this and we have always kept the system in good shape, but not having continued maintenance makes us nervous.”

Forbush said the company is making headway with its oil-rendering and fishmeal plants. The operations are aimed at reducing waste and turning formerly unused portions of fish into profit. Fish meal can be used in pet food products, fish food, and fertilizer.

The company is in the final year of a cost-recovery contract with Douglas Island Pink and Chum, which means it buys hatchery fish leftover after fleets are finished fishing on them. “Our hope is we can continue to get the contract with DIPAC which would help make with the fish oil and meal plants as a source of revenue instead of a way to handle wastes,” Forbush said.