Wrangell Sentinel -

The business of processing fresh seafood is one of the staple industries in Wrangell. It eclipsed logging as the top provider of jobs after the closure of both mills and has seen seasonal employment opportunities for locals and visitors alike in those years.

One of the major processors in the borough is Sea Level Seafoods, and John Moody, a long-time Wrangell resident, has been working there since his teens, rising to the helm of dockside operations and ensuring the catch made by our fishing fleet makes it from the boat to the plant in a timely, efficient and safe manner.

Moody learned late last year that he, along with his wife, would be moving onward and upward, with a promotion coming to him from Sea Level’s parent company, the Oregon-based Pacific Seafoods. He is now based at the company’s Newport, Ore. Pacific Shrimp processing facility. He left Wrangell on Monday, Jan. 7, with his wife Candice set to depart later this month.

Mike Okoniewski, Pacific’s operations manager for Alaska, said he has grown to know Moody quite well over the years – and that senior management decided to promote him because of his skill and ability with co-workers.

“John is very personable, great at his job, and I can tell you I have never found anyone that doesn’t like him,” Okoniewski said. “He is one of the hardest workers I know and he has the ability to win people over easily. There is a lot of enthusiasm and he always has a twinkle in his eye. But, he’s also strong willed and not somebody I’d want to cross in a dark alley.”

Okoniewski added that Moody would be assuming a senior management position in Newport, which is one of the busiest ports in Oregon. Pacific Shrimp’s operations there comprise much of the downtown historic Bayfront district on the banks of Yaquina Bay.

The facility operates year round and processes a wide variety of seafood species, including Dungeness crab, pink coldwater shrimp, numerous bottomfish species, and many species of troll-caught wild salmon, and albacore tuna.