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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 [Confidential 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 downtown Juneau, immediately adjacent to the Mount 

Roberts tramway. It was built in 1994 and has a footprint of 44,000 square 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 the 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. 
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Although they sometimes sell some salmon heads and 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 that they have talked to Sandro Lane about 

providing Alaska Protein Recovery with frozen heads. 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 location in the middle of the cruise ship berths, it 

would be very inconvenient to haul waste off shore 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 process halibut (Figure 5), black cod, rockfish, and 

crab (King, Tanner, and Dungeness). Most of the 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 operation 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 individual 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. 
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The Taku dock is located between two cruise ship berths. 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 directly 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 negotiation 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 market and pay the fishermen lower prices. 

Figure 1. Fish heads 
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Figure 2. Waste on floor 
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Figure 3. Waste sluice 
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Figure 4. Waste trough and sluice 
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Figure 5. Halibut in a Plastic Tote 

 
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Figure 6. H&G Fish 
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Figure 7. Gutting line 

Figure 8 Gutting line, another view 

 
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Figure 9. Iced fish in totes 

 
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Figure 10. Egg separator 

Figure 11. Roe 
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Figure 12. Fish pumping lines 

Figure 13. Cruise ship next to Taku Fisheries 

 
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Figure 14. Dock & ice house