Engineers and fabricators from Bornstein Seafoods are busy putting together a jigsaw puzzle of processing equipment inside the cavernous confines of the former Astoria Pacific Seafoods. Theyre under the gun, with fishing seasons in the northern Pacific starting to pick up.

Were going to be processing fish in there by June 15, said Andrew Bornstein, who co-owns Bornstein Seafoods with his brothers Kyle and Colin. The company runs an existing plant at the foot of Slip 1 in between Piers 1 and 2 at the Port of Astoria, employing about 160 people full time. Bornstein said hes looking for another 200 temporary laborers to help run the new location.

Freezer space has always limited the existing plant, said Andrew, with three blast freezer rooms equaling 50 tons capacity. By contrast, Pacific Seafoods space includes six 25-ton blast freezers, immediately tripling his freezing ability.

In buying out Astoria Pacific Seafoods lease, the sons helped their father, Myer, Jay, 70, and his business partner Darrell Kapp, equal owners in the business, retire. The two, who processed primarily sardines, faced a lowering quota and a five- to 10-day season, said Andrew.

Bornstein Seafoods was part of a joint proposal to build processing and cold storage space on the eastern side of Pier 2, right next to its existing plant, but backed out in late April, instead acquiring Pacific Seafoods.

Its a business decision, he said about buying out his fathers company instead of building anew. It really isnt a political decision.

I wouldnt have had that building together for the 2015 season.

Andrew, whose company catches just about every fish in the northern Pacific, faces a banner Pacific whiting season this year, with estimates up to 420,000 metric tons off the coasts of Oregon, Washington and Western Canada.

Whiting is a high-volume, fast-paced fishery, he said. We expect to buy 300,000 to 400,000 pounds of fish a day.

He said, in one day last summer the company offloaded 250 tons of whiting, 50 tons of shrimp, 50 tons of groundfish and 25 tons of salmon.

We hope to put in 25 to 30 million pounds of fish this summer in that plant, said Andrew, adding that the second location also eases a logistical nightmare for the various fishing boats bringing in product.

The 80-year-old Bornstein Seafoods was started by Andrews grandfather Myer Bornstein in 1934 in Bellingham, Wash. His son, Jay Bornstein, took over leadership of the company in 1980. It includes locations from Bellingham to Brookings.

Within the last eight years, said Andrew, his father knew retirement was imminent. The family held dozens of meetings about the transitions and whether his sons wanted to take over the family business, and the process didnt complete until 2010, when Jay Bornstein passed the company to his three sons.

Andrew said his father still comes into the plants and still has plenty of work to, turning a former commercial fishing vessel in Bellingham into a pleasure yacht for family and friends. Hes got a bucket list of fish he wants to catch.