### 1 Site Visit Report Alaska Seafood Processing Industry Petition Response

Lindsay Guzzo Environmental Engineer U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 Permits Division guzzo.lindsay@epa.gov

206-553-0268 Betsy Bicknell Senior Environmental Engineer Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG) betsy.bicknell@erg.com

703-633-1612

Plant Name Taku Fisheries and Taku Smokeries

Plant Address Juneau, Alaska

NPDES Permit # AKG520412

Date of Visit Monday, August 16, 2010 People Contacted Eric R. Norman, Vice President and General Manager Hank Baumgart, President Icy Strait Seafoods (co-subsidiary of Alaska Seafood Holdings, Inc.)

Seafood processed Salmon, including roe

Halibut

Black cod Crab (King, Tanner, Dungeness)

Rockfish

Products Frozen fillets

Frozen roe

Smoked salmon Live crab (limited) Range of annual production volume [Confid ential Business Information, removed from this document] Months of operation February - November Discharge type Grind and discharge through permitted outfall Company Website http://takustore.com/

The Taku Fisheries plant is located in downto wn Juneau, immediately adjacent to the Mount Roberts tramway. It was built in 1994 and has a footprint of 44,000 squa re feet. Taku operates a retail store, mail/Internet sales, as well as wholesale. Taku and Icy Strait Seafoods are sister companies, both wholly owned subsidiaries of Alaska Seafood Holdings, Inc.

Labor Force. In 2010, the labor force was 40 students from Russia and Turkmenistan who were in the U.S. on J-1 visas. They pay their way to th e U.S. and a $1,000 fee to the labor broker, for a total of $3,000 to get to Juneau. Taku provides housing (in apartments) and food. The employees work 8 to 14 hours per day. The plant operates one long shift per day, for as long as the fish last. In addition to the foreign students, Taku employs an additional 30 workers who reside in Juneau.

Waste Management. Taku currently grinds their waste through two grinder pumps. They discharge the ground waste through their NPDES permitted outfall, 60 to 80 feet underwater, 60

feet off the dock. Mr. Norman mentioned that when they are processing black cod, oil will sometimes come to the surface at the outfall. As required by their permit, Taku conducts an annual dive survey to chart and measure the size of the waste pile.They have found that it is growing slightly every year.

### 2 Although they sometimes sell some salmon heads an d black cod tail for bait, most of the heads are disposed of as waste. Figure 1 shows a tote filled with fish heads and Figure 2 shows how trimming wastes accumulates on the floor. Figure 3 shows a sluice that carries waste from a piece of processing equipment. Figure 4 shows how waste flows from the sluice into a floor drain. Solid material on the floor is swept or hosed into the floor drain.

Sandro Lane, former owner of Taku Fisheries, operates the Alaska Protein Recovery (APR) facility in Ketchikan. Mr. Norman mentioned th at they have talked to Sandro Lane about providing Alaska Protein Recovery with frozen head s. Mr. Lane planned to test the effect of freezing on the oil chemistry, but at the time of the August 2010 visit, Mr. Norman had not heard

the results of these tests.

Mr. Norman explained that because of Taku’s locati on in the middle of the cruise ship berths, it would be very inconvenient to haul waste off shor e in a waste boat. They could put waste in totes

and load it into the waste hauler off their small dock. It would require a lot of jockeying between the arriving fishing boats, and cruise ship passengers, but it could be done.

Plant Operations. The plant operates 10 months per year. They process 7 million pounds per year, fairly consistently. About 60 to 70% of production is salmon, usually higher value fish (Sockeye and King) and little pink. They also pr ocess halibut (Figure 5), black cod, rockfish, and crab (King, Tanner, and Dungeness). Most of th e production is whole fish (headed and gutted), frozen and barged out to Seattle. Figure 6 shows headed and gutted fish in a tote. They also operate a retail store and mail order ope ration for fillets and smoked salmon.

Plant Tour. The plant is small, and uses the attic to store containers for Fed Ex shipments. The individual sales account for 6 to8% of revenue ( $15 million) and 2 to 3% of the fish processed. Because of quota cuts, in 2010 prices on the dock increased to $7/pound for black cod.

In the summer of 2010, Taku processed about 150,000 pounds per day for 45 days. They continue to process cod and halibut during salmon season. Typical production steps for Sockeye salmon

are: 1. Remove the head in an automatic header;

2. Hand cut the belly and remove the guts( Figures 7and 8 are two views of a gutting line);

3. Separate roe from guts and transport roe to the egg room;

4. Vacuum out gut cavity and clean up the fish;

5. Freeze in the blast freezer;

6. Double dip glaze coating (33°F);

7. Pack.

Sockeye arrive at the plant 1 to 2 days after they have been caught. Figure 9 shows totes filled with iced fish. The turnover in the plant is 2 to 3 days. Some of the salmon are hand-filleted and smoked with alder wood. Smoked salmon is packed on oil in glass jars.

In the egg room, roe are separated into individu al eggs, brined for 5 minutes then packed and frozen. Figures 10 and 11shows the egg separator machine. Last year, Taku sold 120,000 pounds of frozen roe. They sell a small amount of fresh chum roe.

Taku ships live crab to Vancouver, B.C. in the winter. They also clean and cook a small amount

of crab.

### 3 The Taku dock is located between two cruise ship be rths. In order to reduce Taku’s forklift traffic on a walkway used by the cruise ship passengers , the city of Juneau built a new refrigerated seawater tank and fish unloading operation. Fish unloaded from the boats are pumped under the boardwalk so cruise ship passengers can walk di rectly into the city. Figure 12 shows the fish pumping lines entering the facility and Figure 13 shows the cruise ship dock immediately right of the plant.

Taku operates a 100 ton ice house (Figure 14). Mr. Norman says the quality of Taku’s ice is one

reason fishermen like to work with them. The ice is the right temperature (-5o to -10o F) and flakiness, so it will last a long time and not freeze into chunks. Trollers ice individual fish and need flaky ice. He mentioned that some fishermen freelance, checking on prices constantly, and taking their fish to the highest bidder. Most nego tiation on price is for halibut and black cod. With salmon, the processors tell the fishermen how much they can take and the price they will give them. Salmon fishermen will have an arrangement lined up with tenders and processors before

the season starts.

Juneau processors will pay premium prices because they serve the fresh market. Fish can get to Prince Rupert by ferry in two days and can be trucked from there to Seattle in 18 hours.

Processors in the Aleutians serve the frozen ma rket and pay the fishermen lower prices.



### Figure 1. Fish heads

### 4 Figure 2. Waste on floor

### 5 Figure 3. Waste sluice

### 6 Figure 4. Waste trough and sluice

### 7 Figure 5. Halibut in a Plastic Tote

### 8 Figure 6. H&G Fish

### 9 Figure 7. Gutting line

Figure 8 Gutting line, another view

### 10 Figure 9. Iced fish in totes

### 11 Figure 10. Egg separator

Figure 11. Roe

### 12 Figure 12. Fish pumping lines

Figure 13. Cruise ship next to Taku Fisheries

### 13 Figure 14. Dock & ice house