45    TREATMENT OF SCALLOP WASTE
CW. "Mickey" Sheffield, Vice President
Russell & Axon, Inc.
Orlando, Florida 32812
INTRODUCTION
This paper will review seafood processors that specialized in the mechanical shucking, processing,
and packaging of scallops. The scallop process plants are located in Canaveral Harbor, which is
located on the east coast of Central Florida, as shown in Figure 1. The scallop processing industry is a
mechanized series of heat shocking to shuck the shell and rollers and shakers to separate the meat
from the viscera. This process has associated waste products of shell, scallop viscera and wastewater.
In the past the industry has hauled the shell and whatever viscera that could be screened and
collected to a landfill site. The wastewater has been allowed to wash into the wharf-side waters of the
harbour through scuttle ports and drainpipes.
In the early 1980s the Department of Environmental Regulation enacted legal aspects for the scallop
processors, as it was deemed their "activities were resulting in violation of applicable state water
quality standards." At that time the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation and Environmental Protection Agency had no specific effluent guidelines for the processing of scallops but since
then have come under the guidelines set forth by the various state and federal regulations. The
guidelines were formulated as a result of an informational sampling program. These results are being
analyzed so that more reasonable guidelines can be established for the industry.
This paper will address the preliminary findings and results of a 2 year sample testing program to
determine what value of pounds of TSS/1,000 lb of product is a reasonable value for effluent
limitations for the scallop industry.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The nations' seafood industries are experiencing a growth phase, due to the 200-mile fishery
conservation zone, which is the result of the passage of the Fishery Conservation and Management-
Acts. These acts effectively give the U.S. control of 20% of the worlds seafood supply. Commercial
fishing interests have accelerated the growth of their fleets of fishing boats. In order to keep pace with
this harvesting activity the capacity of processing plants has increased accordingly. The regulations
governing the seafood waste management operations could seriously hinder the development of our
nations fisheries.1
The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) effluent guidelines were established as described
under the contractural agreement between the EPA and the Edward C. Jordan Co., Inc.2 The study
evaluated the 33 subcategories of the seafood processing industry. The majority of the industry
consists of many small, family-owned operations which are seasonal and their operation is dependent
upon weather and raw material supply. The exceptions are the larger tuna and fish meal processing
facilities. The majority of these processors are located along coastal regions and have historically
discharged their wastewater, with little or no treatment into marine waters.
"Model plants" were constructed for each size segment of each subcategory and were tested for
economic viability after the addition of proposed pollution control costs. A discounted cash flow
versus net present value analysis was used to determine economic viability. The purpose of the analysis
indicates whether a plant should comply with regulations and remain in business, or terminate
operations and sell its assets. The most important concern of processors is the economic effect of
meeting effluent limitations to satisfy regulatory guidelines.3
Otwell1 notes that the scallop processing and production industry is primarily located along the
southeastern coastal region of the United States. In Florida, the majority of the industry is in the Cape
Canaveral area. The industry harvests bay and scallops, with the bulk of production consisting of
scallops. The processing of scallops is an unique mechanized combination of heat shocking for
46th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1992 Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, Michigan 48118.
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