### 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 f illets (80% of production) Fresh and Frozen whole fish (H&G)

Roe Range of annual productio n volume 2009 production was approximately 6.4 million pounds Months of operation 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 Auke Bay, about 13 miles north of downtown Juneau. The plant is five years old a nd processes small volumes of a wide variety of

seafood. Products are fresh and frozen. Fillets ma ke up around 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 waste 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, and 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 gr ound waste 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. The discharge pipe is held under the surface during th e 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

### 2 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 co sts for running the waste disposal boat per year to be about $17,536 gross pay with an estimated 40 gallons per week of gas 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 salm on, black cod (sablefish) and other groundfish. Rather than washing waste into floor drains, it is captured 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, rotary 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 refrige rated containers and shipped by barge.

Sanitary Wastewater Management. The AGS plant is located outside the city sewer services. Plant sanitary wastewater is treated onsite. W astewater flows through screens and a separator located under the pavement to remove solids. Fr om the separator, the wastewater flows through a peat moss pods that act an attached growth biol ogical treatment 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 for the set of pods which are guaranteed to last for eight years.

The wastewater discharge is monitored regularly by Admiralty Environmental. AGS reports the results to ADEC on discharge monitoring reports . Juneau Septic 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.

### 3 Figure 1: Plant Exterior (source: http://www.alaskagl acierseafoods.com )

Figure 2. Fish waste

### 4 Figure 3. Fish heads

Figure 4. Fish trimmings

### 5 Figure 5. Tote dumper

Figure 6. Ground fish waste

### 6 Figure 7. Waste in boat (with pump)

Figure 8. Waste totes and boats

### 7 Figure 9. Fish sorting station

Figure 10. Gutting fish

Figure 11 Plant overview

### 8 Figure 12. Prep for freezer

Figure 13. Rotary glazer