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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 Copper River Seafoods 

Plant Address Cordova, Alaska 

NPDES Permit # AKG520524 

Date of Visit Thursday, August 19, 2010 

People Contacted Chris La Croix (with additional 

information provided by Pip 

Fillingham) 

Seafood processed Salmon (All Species) 

Halibut 

Cod 

Products Fresh and frozen (H&G, Fillet) 

Smoked salmon 

Salmon roe (ikura an sujiko) 

Range of annual production volume [Confidential Business Information (CBI), removed from 

this document] 

Months of operation May 15 – September 15 

Discharge type Grind and discharge 

Company Website www.copperriverseafood.com 

In 1996, Copper River Seafood took ownership of a 70-year old processing plant in 

Cordova. This plant processes salmon [CBI removed from this document] halibut, and 

cod. The buildings are not insulated, so the plant does not operate in cold weather. The 

plant produces fresh and frozen whole fish (headed and gutted). Fresh fish, 

predominantly salmon, is shipped to Anchorage. Frozen fish is exported [CBI removed 

from this document]. 

Copper River also processes salmon roe into ikura and sujiko. Other products include 

fillets, which are frozen and vacuum packed and shipped to Anchorage; and smoked 

salmon. 

Waste Management. Waste is sluiced from butchering machines to floor drains. Waste 

also accumulates on the floor (Figure 1) and is then hosed into the floor drains. Figure 2 

shows waste in the floor drain. From the drains, waste flows to a central sump and is then 

ground and discharged through Copper River’s NPDES permitted outfall, 300 to 400 feet 

off shore. Waste is sampled prior to discharge to verify that it meets the 1⁄2 inch grind 

requirements (Figure 3, red handle). 
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In 2009 Copper River Seafood delivered most of the salmon heads, [CBI removed from 

this document] to Trident for their new by-products plant. Trident picked up the heads 

twice a day. Copper River estimated they delivered a few hundred thousand pounds in 

total. About 30 – 35%, by weight of the raw salmon ends up as waste. Fish heads account 

for about 10% of the weight of the fish, so Trident took less than 1/3 of Copper River’s 

waste in 2009. Copper River did not mention if Trident had offered to take the remainder 

of Copper River’s waste solids (tails and guts). 

Copper River and Trident had no formal agreement about this arrangement Copper River 

said he had expected Trident to take Copper River waste heads again in 2010, but Trident 

never contacted him to set up the program. Copper River noted that in 2009 they had a 

little difficulty finding space to store the iced totes while they were accumulating waste, 

but would be agreeable to working with Trident again, if they provide the totes. 

Mr. La Croix mentioned that Copper River had investigated manufacturing by-products 

at their Anchorage facility but decided against it due to incredibly poor return-oninvestment. 

Labor. Copper River employs [CBI removed from this document] seasonal employees 

who are mostly foreign students in the country on J-1 visas. Copper River houses the 

employees, charging them a nominal amount for room and board. The students pay their 

way to Cordova. [CBI removed from this document]. 

Operations. Cranes unload totes from the fishing vessels. Each tote is weighed, iced, and 

stacked. Figure 4 shows totes on the dock. A vacuum fish pump is used to remove fish 

from tender holds. The fish are dewatered and packed in totes with ice. Copper River has 

no fish storage tanks. Fish totes are dumped at the head of the butchering line. Heads are 

removed with a guillotine cutter. Bellies are slit by hand, guts and roe removed and 

sluiced to a separating station. Figure 5 shows workers hand-separating the guts from the 

roe, which is dropped into a tote for transport to the egg room. The gut cavity is cleaned 

and the fish are separated by species and graded after heading and gutting. 

Fish are packed into plastic trays and then block frozen [CBI removed from this 

document]. Block frozen fish are glazed and packed for shipping [CBI removed from this 

document]. Fish are also frozen whole, hand glazed, and bagged. 

In the egg room, roe is processed into ikura (individual eggs) and sujiko (roe skeins). The 

ikura is frozen in plate freezers. 

In addition to the bulk processing of frozen salmon, Copper River prepares fillets for 

custom orders and for smoking. The fillets are cold smoked, hot smoked, and packed into 

pouches or jars. Pouches are cooked in a small-scale retort. The smoker is shown in 

Figure 6 and the retort is shown in Figure 7. 
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Figure 1. Waste in sluices and accumulating on the floor 

Figure 2. Waste in floor drain 
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Figure 3. Waste Sampling Point Follows Grinder Pump 

Figure 4. Wooden dock with plastic totes. 
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Figure 5. Separating roe 

Figure 6. Smoker 
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Figure 7. Mini retort for smoked salmon