### 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 Alaska Glacier Seafood

Plant Address Juneau, Alaska

NPDES Permit # AKG520528

Date of Visit Sunday, August 15, 2010 People Contacted Peter Hochstoeger K.D. Roop Mike Erickson (by phone)

Seafood processed Chum salmon black cod (sablefish)

halibut

rockfish

crab

spot prawns
sea cucumbers various ground fish

Products Fresh and Frozen fillets (80% of production) Fresh and Frozen whole fish (H&G)

Roe Range of annual production volume 2009 production was approximately 6.4 million pounds

Months of o peration March through November Discharge type Grind and haul for off shore disposal Company website www.alaskaglacierseafoods.com

The Alaska Glacier Seafood (AGS) plant is located on Au ke Bay, about 13 miles north of downtown Juneau. The plant is five years old and processes s mall volumes of a wide variety of seafood. Products are fresh and frozen. Fillets make up ar ound 80% of production, the remainder

is whole fish. Figure 1 shows the exterior of the plant.

Waste Management. AGS hauls waste for off shore disposal. They accumulate w aste in totes on the dock, run it through an Autio grinder, and pump it into a bow picker (small boat). Alaska Glacier owns the boat, motors, and pump, which cost about $48,000.

Figures 3 - 4 show totes containing various fish waste, fish heads, an d fish trimmings respectively. Figure 5 shows a tote dumper emptying waste into the Autio grinder. Figure 6 is a close up of the grinder. The boat transports the ground wa ste to beyond Portland Island where it is pumped out of the boat . Figure 7 shows the pump and the bow picker filled with fish waste. Th e discharge pipe is held under the surface during the pump out. Pump outs take about an hour. The frequency of disposal runs varies with season. It may be as frequent as twice a day during salmon

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season or once a week at slower times of the year. Figure 8 shows the entire waste processing area by the dock.

Alaska Glacier estimates the labor costs for running the waste disposal boat per year to be about $17,536 gross pay with an estimated 40 gallons per week of ga s to run the boat. The boat is run typically from March – November.

Production. AGS uses movable tables and equipment that can be arranged in various set ups depending on the fish to be processed. Figure 9 shows the fish sorting area with the moveable equipment. They hand butcher halibut, Chum salmon, black cod (sablefish) and other groundfish. Rather than washing waste into floor drains, it is cap tured in catch basins and other containers and dumped into totes. Figure 10 shows a fish butchering process with the waste being placed in the tote in the foreground.

AGS operates a crab cooker, chiller, blast freezer, rot ary glazer, and a small roe room. Figure 11 shows an overview of the interior space of the plant and Figure 12 shows the preparation prior to freezing. The rotary glazer is shown in Figure 13 . Fresh products are shipped via Alaska Air while frozen products are packed into refrigerated containe rs and shipped by barge.

Sanitary Wastewater Management. The AGS plant is located outside the city sewer services

. Plant sanitary wastewater is treated onsite. Wastewa ter flows through screens and a separator located under the pavement to remove solids. From the separato r, the wastewater flows through a peat moss pods that act an attached growth biological treat ment device (i.e., a biofilter). Outflow from the peat moss pods passes through a U.V. disinfection device and is discharged 10 feet below the surface, some distance from the dock. AGS paid $52,000 fo r the set of pods which are guaranteed to last for eight years.

The wastewater discharge is monitored regularly by Admira lty Environmental. AGS reports the results to ADEC on discharge monitoring reports. Juneau Sept ic Services pumps out the solids that accumulate in the separator sump under the pavement. They also pump out any solids that

have accumulated in storm drains and the fish drain.

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Figure 1: Plant Exterior (source: http://www.alaskaglacierseafoods.com )

Figure 2. Fish waste

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Figure 3. Fish heads

Figure 4. Fish trimmings

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Figure 5. Tote dumper

Figure 6. Ground fish waste

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Figure 7. Waste in boat (with pump)

Figure 8. Waste totes and boats

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Figure 9. Fish sorting station

Figure 10. Gutting fish

Figure 11 Plant overview

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Figure 12. Prep for freezer

Figure 13. Rotary glazer

### Memorandum

January 4, 2011 Page 1



## MEMORANDUM

TO: Betsy Bicknell

FROM: Mark Briggs, ERG

DATE: January 2011

SUBJECT: Skow and Tender Vessel Costs for Seafood Waste Transport

Dock Street Brokers



## SCOW

Location: Oregon

Asking

Price: $85,000

Status: Available

Year

Built: 1948

Length: 76

Hull: Wood

Builder: Seattle Shipbuilding

Engine /

Fuel: Diesel fuel

Details: 76.6’x24’x4.5’ wooden flat deck power scow built in 1948 by Seattl e Shipbuilding.

Twin 8V71 mains rated at 350 hp. Norhern Lights 20kw generator. 100,000# capacity in two aluminum deck tanks. Tico Marine deck cra ne. Electronics include Furuno GP-31 GPS, Furuno SSB, Wood Freeman auto pilot, Furuno radar and color sounder. Extended trunk cabin on deck. Price reduced to only $85,000.

### Memorandum

January 4, 2011 Page 2

### Memorandum

January 4, 2011 Page 3



## Tender

Location: Alaska

Asking

Price: $210,000

Status: Available

Year

Built: 1954

Length: 78

Hull: Steel

Builder: US Navy

Engine /

Fuel: Diesel

Details: 78’x22.6’x 3.6’ steel tender originally built in 1954 by the US Navy as a landing

craft. Twin 8V71 mains. Twin Disc gearboxes. Isuzu 55kw genera tor. 671 100 kw generator. 205,000# capacity in two tanks. 40 ton RSW system. Electronics include ComNav auto pilot, Raytheon 24 mile radar, Marine Tech s ounder, Garmin GPS, and a Nobeltech charting software on a laptop computer. Tr ansvac fish pump with a new 30 hp motor and a blower rebuilt in 2008. Crane and fixed bo om with vanging and topping. Asking $210,000.

### Memorandum

January 4, 2011 Page 4

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# Bureau of Labor Stats. Fishers and Fishing Vessel Operators

In May 2008, median annual wages of wage-and-salary fishers were $27,950. The middle 50 percent

earned between $19,510 and $33,580. The bottom 10 p ercent earned less than $16,080, while the top

10 percent earned more than $45,930. Earnings of fi shers and fishing vessel operators normally are

highest in the summer and fall when demand for thei r catch and environmental conditions are favorable

and lowest during the winter. Many full-time and mo st part-time workers supplement their income by

working in other activities during the off-season.

### Memorandum

January 4, 2011 Page 5

Location: Washington

Asking

Price: $325,000

Status: Available

Year

Built: 1986

Length: 68

Hull: Steel

Builder: Chauvin

Engine /

Fuel: Diesel

Details: 68’x20’x7’ steel crabber/tender built by Chauvin in 1986. Cummi ns NTA 855 main,

360 hp, 800 hours on rebuild. Twin Disc 514 4.5:1 gear. GMC 3-71 30kw aux , John Deere 40kw aux. Copeland 30 ton compressor for RSW / spray br ine / air. Completely rigged with all the gear for crab, tuna, traw l, and tendering. 2,600 gallons water, 6,500 gallons fuel capacities. Dedicated gas tank for transfer during tendering. Up to 90 days tender contract. Electronics include (2) GPS , VHF, SSB, plotte r, radar, sounder, auto pilot, Trac phone, and VMS. Asking $325,000 for vessel. Several permits are available to buyer including 500 pot WA crab, OR, CA, and WA shrimp.

Call for details.From: "Jesie Ormsby" <jesie@alaskaglacierseafoods.com>

To: "'Betsy Bicknell'" <Betsy.Bicknell@erg.com>

Date: 2/21/2011 6:09 PM Subject: RE: Questions from EPA about Alaska Glacier waste disposal boat

Betsy, please see below response in red.

Jesie

From: Betsy Bicknell [mailto:Betsy.Bicknell@erg.com ] Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 12:09 PM To: mike@alaskaglacierseafoods.com Cc: jesie@alaskaglacierseafoods.com; Anderson.Donal df@epamail.epa.gov Subject: Questions from EPA about Alaska Glacier wa ste disposal boat

Mike:

When I visited Alaska Glacier Seafoods with Lindsay Guzzo, EPA, in August, we learned about the boat that AGS uses to dispose of seafood processing waste in Stephens Passage. We learned that the boat is a 32' bowpicker equipped with a 110 HP engine. We also learned that the boat cost about $48,000 and that a disposal trip is about 6 nautica l miles (round trip).

Please correct any of this information that is not correct.

I'm looking for more details to help EPA estimate w hat it would cost if other AK seafood processors were required to dispos e of their waste off shore. Could you tell me:

- how much waste (pounds) does the boat carry per t rip? 16,000#s of waste

- how long does each trip take: 3 hours total.so 1 hour there + 1 hour to

unload + 1 hour back

hours to travel to and from the disposal site

hours to pump out the waste

- how many men are required to take the boat out an d pump the waste overboard? (that is, how big a crew is required for waste disposal) 1-2 men depending on weather

- what type of fuel is used in the engine(s)? (gaso line or diesel), and what do you currently pay for it? Gasoline is used

- how much fuel is burned per hour of vessel operat ion? (or per disposal trip, if that is easier to estimate). Roughly 25 gal as an estimate per trip

Hope your crab season is going well and that you ha ve a great 2011.

BetsyBetsy Bicknell

Senior Environmental Engineer Eastern Research Group, Inc.

(703) 633-1612 betsy.bicknell@erg.com