For almost eight decades Wards Cove, a privately-held Seattle company, has been an important part of the fishing and processing business in Alaska.

Founded in 1928 on Wards Cove in Ketchikan by A.W. “Winn” Brindle and Harold A. Brindle, the company is the oldest family-owned seafood company in Alaska. In 2002 the company decided to exit the Alaskan salmon industry to focus on other operations.

The company is currently engaged in commercial fishing for, and processing of, pollock, cod and crab in the Bering Sea, and operates several general retail stores in Alaska.

Feb 2, 2011, The sale of Wards Cove Packing Co. was finalized Tuesday, turning the ownership of some assets over to BSAI Partners, a joint venture between Siu Alaska Corp. and Coastal Villages Pollock.

The buyers are subsidiaries of the Norton Sound Economic Development Corp. and Coastal Villages Region Fund, two of the six community development quota nonprofits that represent Western Alaska communities through a federal fisheries management program