PETERSBURG, AK This year’s count of cans of salmon packed in Petersburg was down a little over two million cans from 2009. Cannery employees packed the equivalent of 11,191,957 cans. The can pack count was announced Saturday during the annual Humpy 500 go cart race in front of the Icicle Seafoods Petersburg plant. Seafood processing companies and the Chamber of Commerce sponsor an annual contest to guess the can pack.
The $2,000 first place prize this year goes to Sherlita Eusebio. Her winning guess was 11,181,980, less than ten thousand off the actual can pack.
The second place $1,000 cash prize goes to Paul Walters. Eusebio’s winning guess was 566 cans closer than Walters’s second place guess.
Icicle Seafoods was the only participating cannery this year. The can pack has been as high as 34 million in 2003 and hit a low of just under six million cans in 2008. This summer’s pink salmon run turned out better than forecast with larger than average fish boosting the pounds of pinks canned. Petersburg Fisheries also processed pinks from a record setting run in Prince William Sound.
Salmon can pack tops 11 million
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