Mike Erickson, President: Alaska Glacier Seafoods.

• Author: Gallion, Mari
• Position: View from the Top

The son of a commercial troll fisherman, Mike Erickson moved to Alaska with his family in 1966. Erickson spent summers fishing with his family and attended school in Petersburg through the other three seasons. In his early adulthood, Erickson took a job in Juneau with White Pass Alaska Fuel, helping construct, and later managing, the tank farm now known as Petro Marine. Separated from his family--who were living in Fairbanks at the time--he spent much of his spare time fishing. Often catching much more than he could consume or give away, he started selling his catch for "gas money." Realizing that his hobby was both fun and profitable, he founded Alaska Glacier Seafoods (AGS) in 1995. Today, AGS employs 145 people at the peak of its season. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

GROWTH SPURT: Alaska Glacier Seafoods, as a company, took a major leap when we constructed a fifteen throusand-square-foot facility in Auke Bay in 2005. The company puts a lot of emphasis on fresh fish sales: halibut and salmon fillets. Another avenue that AGS is a major player in is the live king crab markets, and we source crab from the Southeast to the Aleutian Chain. It is common for us to charter a 737 aircraft and fly a load of crab out at any given time. Most of this product goes into West Coast markets.

WHOLE CATCH PRACTICES: One of the things we are really excited about is working towards 90 percent-plus utilization of purchased fish most recently because most of the fish trimmings are now ground for use in the pet foot industry and that is from all species of fish with the exception of crab shells.

A PERMANENT POSITION: I think one thing we are very proud of is the longevity of the employees that are here at AGS. It is a family owned business. No interest is owned outside of the family. My son, Jim Erickson, is the vice president of AGS, and he is mostly responsible for...