OBI Seafoods’ Petersburg processing plant reached an important annual milestone on Monday, August 12, when it packed 100,000 cases of fish. To celebrate, the plant sounded its steam whistle loud and clear. However, the whistle came a little later than usual.

Cannery foreman Jeff Randrup was lifted into the air by a yellow forklift. As he slowly moved upward, he adjusted his protective gear, including a face shield and ear defenders. When the platform was level with the factory’s main whistle, he reached out, grabbed a rope – and pulled.

What followed was about four minutes of different tones and chords as Randrup alternated between different frequencies and smaller whistles. The sound echoed through downtown Petersburg, where one of the city’s canneries had just processed 100,000 cases of pink salmon. But Randrup said they were a little behind on last year.

“It’s a little later than last year,” Randrup said. “This is a bad year.”

Officially, the cannery reached the same milestone about a week earlier last year. But if you look further back into the company’s history, you’ll see that there have been similar dates for the whistle in the past. In 2021, for example, it was blown on the 10th.

Despite a slower start this year, Randrup said he sees his team working hard.

“I guess I would say it takes a long time to find the right people to run the plant,” Randrup said. “We have good people and I’m really grateful for that. And I guess I would say I love being here.”

He said the community should keep its ears open in the coming weeks. If the OBI reaches 200,000 cases at the end of the season, the alarm could be raised again.