Pacific American Fisheries

Pacific American Fisheries. . The historic link between Fairhaven's shore and coastal Alaska is long and enduring. The Bellingham Cruise Terminal is built on the former site of the Pacific American Fisheries salmon canning complex which, during the 1940's, was the largest salmon cannery in the world with operations throughout coastal Alaska. The tile warehouse at the entrance to the passenger terminal complex, the last remanent of the original warehouses, was built in 1913 and was part of an integrated compound that included a can and box factory, cannery, shipyard, housing for Chinese workers as well as a by-products division at the entrance to Bellingham Bay on Eliza Island., At the height of the salmon season, each of PAF's 18 canning lines were capable of packing and sealing 42,000 cans per day achieving a peak daily output of 756,000 one-pound cans. From the original dock on this site, the pack was loaded aboard ocean- going steamers bound for markets in Europe and the South Pacific. Originally built in 1889 and called the Ocean Dock, it was the first ocean shipping facility in Whatcom County, connecting the small settlement of Fairhaven with ports down the coast and abroad.,