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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 Ocean Beauty Seafoods 

Plant Address Cordova, Alaska 

NPDES Permit # AKG520494 

Date of Visit Thursday, August 19, 2010 

People Contacted Hap Symmonds, Plant Manager 

Rene Vargas, Assistant Plant 

Manager 

Joe Frazier, Director Corporate 

Food Safety, QA and Regulatory 

Affairs 

Cindy Luna, QA Manager 

Seafood processed Pink salmon (canned) 

Red salmon (fresh and frozen) 

King salmon (fresh and frozen) 

Chum salmon (fresh and Frozen) 

Pink Salmon (Frozen) 

Coho Salmon (Fresh and Frozen) 

Halibut 

Black cod 

Products Canned salmon 

Fresh and frozen 

Frozen salmon roe 

Range of annual production volume 5 to 18 million pounds 

Months of operation May – September 

Discharge type Ground and discharged through NPDES permitted 

outfall 

Company Website http://www.oceanbeauty.com/ 

Hap Symmonds, plant manager, noted that at the time of the visit, the Cordova plant was 

breaking their record for the most cases produced in a season. During the 2010 season, 

Prince William Sound (PWS) fishermen had harvested 60 million pink salmon, about 

three times the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game projection. Ocean Beauty expected to 

process 18 million pounds of salmon in 2010. 

Mr. Symmonds described the Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation, a nonprofit business that operates several salmon hatcheries around PWS and the Copper River 

delta. According to their website (www.pwsac.com), their goal is to optimize the value of 

the salmon resources produced in Prince William Sound. With headquarters in Cordova, 

Alaska, PWSAC operates four remote salmon hatcheries in Prince William Sound and 

one on the Copper River system in Paxson. Approximately 600 million salmon fry and 
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smolt are produced for release into Pacific waters. Mr. Symmonds credited the PWSAC 

hatcheries with helping to produce 2010’s record harvest. 

After Ms. Guzzo presented the background for the EPA visit, Mr. Symmonds noted that 

the Cordova community was concerned about grinding seafood processing waste. 

Neighbors are upset with the seabird population that is supported by the near-shore 

discharge of seafood processing wastes. In particular, people who use harvested rainwater 

for drinking water are concerned about water contamination with bird feces. 

Mr. Symmonds noted that Ocean Beauty’s current NPDES permit prohibits discharge 

between October and March. The reason is that local sea otters purportedly became 

infested with parasitic worms from eating cod waste (cod is harvested in the winter). He 

said this permit condition was “pushed through” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

and Native Corporations. The result was elimination of cod and halibut production at his 

plant. It would also preclude herring production, if the herring populations rebounded and 

fishing were allowed. The season for bait herring is in November and December. 

Ocean Beauty conducted its permit-required pile survey in January-February, 2010. 

Historically there is no measurable pile because of the strong current in the channel. In 

contrast, the outfall from the neighboring plant at the time it was owned by North Pacific 

Seafood was situated such that a large waste pile accumulated. A Coast Guard buoy 

tender went aground on the waste pile. Bear and Wolf, who bought the plant from North 

Pacific, extended the outfall line. 

Mr. Symmonds provided some background on by-product recovery. He noted that in the 

mid-1990s the PWS Utilization Committee was formed. This committee included 

processors, Native Villages, and environmental groups. They explored the possibility of 

developing a waste reduction facility in Cordova. They looked for state funding through 

the committee on economic development. At that time, what is now the Trident Cannery 

was owned by North Pacific Seafoods1

 who did not want to participate in the venture. 

The successor to North Pacific, Bear and Wolf also refused to participate in a cooperative 

offal operation. Ocean Beauty and the other Cordova processors did not think a waste 

reduction facility would be economically viable without Bear and Wolf’s participation, 

and the project was put on hold. 

Trident’s cannery is located immediately adjacent to the Ocean Beauty plant. In 2009, 

Trident built a waste reduction plant on the side of their property that is farthest from 

Ocean Beauty. The waste reduction plant was built on land transferred to Bear and Wolf 

(now Trident) from the City of Cordova. Although the City Council was open to selling 

the land to a cooperative2

, without Bear and Wolf’s participation, the cooperative was not 

viable and the land was sold to Bear and Wolf. 

 

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 The North Pacific Seafoods plant was sold to Bear and Wolf and then recently sold to Trident Seafoods. 2

 A copy of City Council meeting minutes is attached. During review of this report, Ocean Beauty checked 

the property records and found there was nothing that would be legally binding to force Trident to take any 

waste from any of the other processors. 
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In 2009, Ocean Beauty sent salmon heads to the Trident by-products plant. They set up a 

program to do it again in 2010, but then were told Trident could not take the waste3. 

Trident said they would take Ocean Beauty’s waste in 2011, but at the time of the visit 

Ocean Beauty had not talked to Trident about costs or disposal guarantees. 

Ocean Beauty managers noted that Trident’s by-product recovery plant sometimes has a 

bad odor. They recalled that citizens complained about odor and sinus problems when 

there was a heat inversion over the town and no wind dispersion. 

During a discussion of the products made at Trident’s by-product recovery plant, Mr. 

Symmonds noted that salmon hydrolysate might be used as a chicken feed additive to 

improve the protein quality and of the eggs produced by these chickens. 

Operations. Ocean Beauty processes a small amount of halibut and black cod, but their 

main product is salmon. They are open from May 1 through September 30. Their 

production consists of: 

 Two lines making “tall” cans of pink salmon. They do not make 

skinless/boneless product. 

 Fresh and frozen Red, Chum, Coho, Pink and King salmon, sold as H&G 

(headed and gutted) whole fish. The red salmon caught on the “flats” is marketed 

as “Copper River Red” and fetches a premium price. 

 Salmon roe, both ikura and sujiko. 

 A small hand-production fillet line. 

Ocean Beauty has been certified by the Transportation Safety Authority (TSA) as a selfscreening cargo shipper. This means their products can get to market faster, resulting in 

higher quality for the consumer. 

Production can be as low as 5 million pounds in a low year. Ocean Beauty expected to 

process 18 million pounds of salmon in 2010, with additional production of halibut and 

cod. They use about 4 to 5 million gallons of city water per month during salmon season. 

Water for the retorts is super-chlorinated (for food safety reasons) and discharged from 

the retorts. It is not recovered for use in the boilers. 

Plant Tour. Cindy Luna and Renee Vargas provided Ms. Guzzo and Ms. Bicknell with a 

tour of the plant. 

The Ocean Beauty plant is constructed on pilings (Figure 1). The plant was built in 1978 

but the can fillers on the A Line date from 1938. 

 

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 During a visit with Trident later on August 19, 2010 Rick Isaacson explained that Trident did not take 

Ocean Beauty or Copper River waste in 2010 because ADEC had told Trident they needed to provide the 

other processors with insulated totes for storage and transfer of salmon heads. Trident was not able to 

obtain enough insulated totes by the beginning of the fishing season to provide totes to Ocean Beauty and 

Copper River. Mr. Isaacson said Trident planned to obtain totes and have them available for the 2011 

season.
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Wastewater containing solids accumulates in two sumps located under the building. 

Solids, including heads, tails, and frames pass through multiple grinders. Heads are 

ground with Autio grinders and then flow into the sump. Figure 2 shows a waste 

conveyor and Figure 3 shows an Autio grinder. Waste from the sump passes through two 

Vaughan chopper pumps, and a Muffin MonsterTM. Waste is discharged through the 

outfall which is 40 to 50 feet below the surface. During the tour, a large number of 

seagulls were noted congregating at the outfall (Figures 4 and 5). 

In 2009, Ocean Beauty collected fish heads and trucked them to the Trident by-products 

plant. This required installing a chute from the conveyor into iced totes. According to Ms. 

Luna, collecting the fish heads required a little more work but did not throw off the 

production rhythm. 

Fish are off loaded using a basket brailer, which dumps the fish into totes on the dock. 

Ocean Beauty does not wash totes or melt ice on the dock to ensure that all wastewater 

flows into the drain system, to the sumps, and then the outfall. Totes that contain material 

and are stored on the dock are plugged to prevent leakage. Ocean Beauty managers noted 

that the dock is small, but efficient. Fishermen come in, unload, and leave. They are not 

allowed to store gear on the dock. The dock handled 20 million pounds of fish in 2010. 

Ocean Beauty operates two side-by-side canning lines. One runs at 250 cans/minute and 

the other, which is a bit older, runs at 230 cans/minute. Canned salmon is cooked in six 

retorts. The plant operates from 7AM to midnight, with a break of not more than two 

hours. The fresh/frozen line can run close to 24 hours/day. An overview of the plant is 

shown in Figure 6 and the fish conveyer is shown in Figure 7. 

In a separate egg room, pink salmon roe is processed into ikura for the Russian and 

European markets. Roe from chum and red salmon are also processed. Figure 8 shows a 

worker separating salmon roe from the salmon guts. All egg room waste is directed into 

flumes that flow into two small sumps. Waste from these sumps is pumped over to the 

main sumps using a level-activated pump. Packaged salmon roe is shown in Figure 9. 

In the case up area, the frozen fish are glazed, and packed. 
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Figure 1. View of Ocean Beauty plant showing piling foundation (taken from Trident) 
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Figure 2. Waste conveyor 
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Figure 3. Autio grinder 1 

Figure 4. Gulls at outfall 
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Figure 5. Ocean Beauty outfall with gulls 

Figure 6. Overview 
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Figure 7. Fish conveyor 

Figure 8. Roe separating 
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Figure 9. Salmon roe packed for shipment 
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Minutes from Cordova City Council Meeting 

Provided by Hap Symmonds, Ocean Beauty Seafoods