Industrial Wastes from
Seafood Plants in the State of Alaska
CHARLES L. JENSEN, Seafood Sanitarian
Alaska Department of Health and Welfare
Alaska Office Building
Juneau, Alaska
SALMON INDUSTRY
The commercial salmon industry began in Alaska in 1878, when one small
hand-pack operation was established in southeastern Alaska. Since that time the
salmon industry has developed into Alaska's largest single commercial industry.
Salmon canneries have been established from the southern extremity of Alaska
north to Kotzebue, inside the Arctic circle. Since the beginning, the simplest
means possible have been utilized for waste disposal. This has been, for the most
part, fluming the waste to tidewater and allowing the tide to disperse the offal.
In the past this method of disposal was accepted primarily because most of the
commercial fishing industry was located in isolated spots along the coastline.
Considerable research has been conducted to devise means of utilizing salmon
waste. These projects, for the most part, have been carried out by the U. S. Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service at their technological laboratories
in Seattle, Washington, and Ketchikan, Alaska. These investigations have attempted to develop means other than the normal reduction methods to utilize the
waste. Successful developments include fish hatchery feed, mink feed, and byproducts producing insulin, hormones, and enzymes. However, because of the
vast distances involved in the state-wide fishery and the short time of the normal
processing season of 35 to 90 calendar days, no commercial interest has developed
in this industry. In 1964, 3,700,000 cases (1) of salmon were processed, equaling
266 million lbs of raw usable product and producing 98 million lbs of waste.
In the past the distances between production points and the transportation of
the final product were the biggest deterrents to the development of the reduction
industry in Alaska. Because ofthe centralization of the industry and the increased
transportation facilities available within the state these deterring factors have
been noticeably lessened.
Salmon production reached an all time high in 1936 with a production of
8,437,678 cases (2). Since that time there hasheen a severe decline in production with a record low of 1,778,339 cases in 1959. There has been a slow but
steady increase in production of salmon since that time. During the last 10 years,
numerous consolidations within the salmon industry have taken place which has
reduced the actual number of canneries processing fish. It has resulted in the
processing of as high as 240,000 (3) cases of salmon in a single plant, requiring
17 million lbs of raw product, of which approximately six million lbs were waste.
There is a question whether or not, even in isolated locations, this amount of
waste can be handled in small bays strictly by tidal dispersion. In conjunction
with the consolidations, diversification has taken place in many plants, putting
them on yr-round operational basis and creating a continuous pollution problem
rather than one of only 35-90 day duration. Therefore, pollution is now a more
serious problem than it was in the early period of the fishery development.
In  1964 total salmon production amounted to 3,700,000 cases (1).    This
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