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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 Trident Seafoods, Cordova South 

Plant Address Cordova, Alaska 

NPDES Permit # AKG520491 

Date of Visit Thursday, August 19, 2010 

People Contacted William S. (Bill) Gilbert, Plant 

Manager 

Jeremy Mallett, QA Manager 

Seafood processed Salmon (all five species) 

Halibut 

Cod (black, grey, and Pacific) 

Rockfish 

Products Fresh and frozen (fillets and H&G) 

Salmon roe (ikura an sujiko) 

Range of annual production volume 7 to 14 million pounds per year (lower production in odd 

years, due to pink salmon life cycle) 

Months of operation March - October 

Discharge type Grind and discharge 

Company Website www.tridentseafoods.com 

The Trident Seafoods Cordova South plant has had several owners. It began as the 

Copper River Cooperative. It was then owned by Silver Lining Seafoods who merged 

with Lafayette. In 1994 NorQuest Fisheries bought the plant. They sold it to Trident in 

2004. Mr. Gilbert began working at the plant in 1993, as Cordova was recovering from 

the Exxon Valdez oil spill1

. Mr. Gilbert noted that when he started, the plant processed 

about 4 million pounds per year of salmon and herring. The herring fisheries were wiped 

out by the Exxon Valdez oil spill and have not recovered. The last herring season was in 

1996. 

Operations. In 2010, Trident South processed all five species of salmon, halibut, cod 

(black, grey, and Pacific), and rockfish. Salmon typically represents about 3⁄4 of their 

production. In 2009, they processed 7.5 million pounds of salmon out of total production 

of 14 million pounds. In 2010 they processed about 10 million pounds of salmon. 

Most (70%) of their production is shipped to the contiguous U.S. They produce fresh and 

frozen products, mostly whole fish (H&G), some fillets, and some block frozen products. 

The percentage of their production that is fillets has increased every year since they 

 

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 The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. The spill did 

not reach Cordova but did affect the fishing grounds fished by Cordova fisherman. 
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started producing frozen fillets five years ago. With the change to producing fillets, the 

amount of waste has increased. This challenges Trident and other producers to find 

alternative products to get to total utilization of the harvested fish. 

The species processed change. Every year it is a slightly different mix. In 2009 they 

processed 1 million pounds of grey cod. They also began selling cleaned and frozen black 

cod collars to Japan. 

Mr. Gilbert explained that Trident Cordova South does more “money” (high value) fish, 

while Trident Cordova North processes large volumes of pink and chum salmon. But 

Trident Cordova South began processing pink salmon in 2008 and 2009. This is because 

pink salmon production in Prince William Sound has increased. He noted that pink 

salmon harvests are lower in odd years than even years, due to the salmon life cycle. This 

is documented in historical records from the 1930s on. Hatcheries were built in the 70s 

and 80s to even out the salmon returns by increasing production in the years of nonabundance. 

Increasing Yield. Trident South is continuously looking for ways to sell a higher 

percentage of each fish processed. The sell Pacific cod heads, halibut cheeks, and 

sockeye salmon frames and bellies. They plan to add a mincer in 2011 to recover fish 

from frames and may inject mince into the fillets. When the mincer is in place, they may 

make other products like salmon burgers and block-frozen products. 

Waste Management. In 2010, Trident South trucked all of its salmon heads to the 

Trident North by-product recovery plant. In 2011 they plan to truck the frames as well. 

They may also truck black cod heads. Trident Cordova South processes 400,000 to 

500,000 pounds of black cod per year, resulting in 40,000 pounds per year of heads. The 

heads are more than 3% oil, so it may be possible to recover the cod head oil profitably. 

In 2010, Trident froze a batch of cod heads and will process them at the by-product 

recovery plant at the end of the season to determine the effect of freezing on oil quality. 

Mr. Gilbert said that collecting the salmon heads to iced totes and trucking them to the 

recovery plant requires minor additional costs. He estimates that the labor demand was 

not more than two additional jobs, including driving the truck to the by-products plant. 

The incremental cost per pound of fish is minimal. 

Mr. Gilbert recalled that for years, Cordova wanted to build a cooperative (public) 

oil/meal plant but they could not find financing. Trident, a huge company, bought the 

Bear and Wolf cannery and was able to finance their own by-products recovery plant. 

Plant Tour. Jeremy Mallett provided Ms. Guzzo and Ms. Bicknell with a tour of the 

Trident Cordova South plant. 

Groundfish (i.e., fish other than salmon) are off-loaded from the fishing boats and 

repacked into totes of slush ice. Figure 1 shows a tote containing fish waiting to be 

processed. Salmon is pumped onto the sorting table, where it is separated by species, then 
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packed into iced totes. Fish are weighed, logged in, and each tote is tagged with a code 

that provides complete traceability to the boat that delivered it. Mr. Mallett explained that 

storing fish in totes provides better temperature control. If the temperature gets below 34° 

F the roe will begin to freeze and be damaged. The totes are unloaded in a deicing bin 

and the contact ice is routed to the plant sump and discharged through the outfall. They 

do not use refrigerated sea water tanks. 

Fork lifts transfer the totes into the plant and they are moved around inside the plant 

using a pallet jack. Fish are de-headed using a foot-operated header. Heads drop into an 

iced bin. Figure 2 shows a iced tote filled with fish heads. Before the heads were used in 

the by-products plant, they were flumed into a grinder and pumped to the outfall. 

Waste is hosed into floor drains (Figure 3). All drains in the butchering area flow to a 

common sump equipped with four Vaughan chopper pumps (Figure 4). From the sump, 

the wastewater passes through a Muffin MonsterTM before it is discharged through the 

outfall. 

Roe is recovered from headed hand butchered fish. Trident Cordova South makes several 

roe products: 

 Frozen green (unbrined) roe; 

 Sujiko (brined sockeye roe skeins); and 

 Ikura (brined separated chum roe). 

After rinsing the fish are graded by size and quality. They are either frozen whole or 

further processed in one of four fillet lines, one for Pacific cod and three for salmon. Each 

line is equipped with a three-piece splitter (splits the whole fish into two fillet halves and 

the frame). Some sockeye frames and bellies are frozen, but what is not sold is ground 

and discharged through the outfall. Figure 5 shows the processing line. 

The fillets are de-boned in a pin bone machine followed by manual removal of the 

remaining pin bones. This step is followed by grading (and some trimming), and 

secondary grading (by color). For frozen products, the fillets are loaded into freezer 

racks. The racks are tagged with boat load number. This number will be included in the 

lot number that appears on the product label. The fillets are flash-frozen in one of three 

blast freezers. Trident Cordova South can freeze up to 150,000 pounds of fish per day 

(depending on the size of the fish: larger fish require a longer freezing time and that will 

reduce through-put). From the freezer, fish are glazed and boxed or vacuum packed. 

Glazed, vacuum packed fillets have a 2-year shelf life. Legally, the glaze can account for 

5 to 7 % by weight of H&G product. 

Some products are packed into boxes and block frozen. These products include roe, 

frames and bellies, Pacific cod trim, and cod roe and milt (that are produced in March and 

April). An overview of the processing area is shown in Figure 6.
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Boxed frozen fish are loaded into refrigerated vans. Trident Cordova South has six van 

stalls but typically use only three to four at a time to prevent bottle necks. They typically 

ship three vans/day of frozen product, including roe and pink salmon. The vans are 

loaded into barges or ships and routed to Europe and other destinations. 

Fresh product is shipped by air (Alaska Airlines cargo planes) to Seattle and other 

destinations. 

Figure 1. Fish tote 
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Figure 2. Iced fish heads 

Figure 3. Floor drain 
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Figure 4. Waste chopper pumps 

Figure 5. Processing line 
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Figure 6. Trident Cordova South Plant Overview