BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Bornstein Seafoods has filed a notification with the Washington State Employment Security Department announcing the closure of the company’s Bellingham facility, laying off approximately 72 people.

The seafood company is also closing their seafood processor in Newport, OR.

President and CEO Colin Bornstein told MyBellinghamNow that changes in the seafood industry have made the two facilities to be uncompetitive. Operations from these two locations are being transferred to the company’s processing facilities in Astoria, OR.

In 1934, Bornstein Seafoods was founded by Myer Bornstein in Bellingham during the Great Depression. In 1980, Myer “Jay” Bornstein took over the company and began expanding it’s operations to multiple states and Canada.

The company has been family owned ever since and Jay Bornstein’s son Colin Bornstein calls this move “incredibly bittersweet,” but necessary to stay competitive in the seafood market.

Bornstein says the company’s headquarters will remain in Bellingham and they’re hopeful another company will step in and take on many of the workers they are letting go.