^{Thumbnail courtesy of KFUG Station Manager Paul Critz.}

After meeting with city and county representatives on Monday, Interim Harbormaster Mike Rademaker says there’s more momentum toward the Harbor District operating the ice plant rather than transporting the ice from Brookings.

The Crescent City Harbor District is still working on establishing a containerized ice plant, but with the commercial Dungeness crab season set to start soon, getting the ice plant on Citizens Dock up and running is a faster option, Rademaker told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday.

“Lead time is at least 24 weeks,” he said, referring to the containerized ice plant option, which could cost about $1 million. “It’s not a viable solution for the upcoming crab season or tuna [fishery].”

But local leaders are still figuring out how to address environmental concerns associated with the ice plant itself as well as how much ice the local fishing fleet actually needs, according to Crescent City Manager Eric Wier.

That information must also be weighed against the  costs associated with transporting ice from Pacific Choice Seafood’s plant in Brookings to Crescent City as well as figuring out how to get it onto local fishing boats, Weir said.

“We had an initial meeting in which some more questions were asked, and we need to have the answers to those questions,” he said Thursday. “What are some of the options and what are the impacts? How does this affect fishermen in regards to crab season, which is basically upon us, versus other fishing seasons? We need to have some answers fairly quickly.”