Summary

Description

It is well established that fish protein and oil are nutritious and valuable feed commodities (Deuel et al. 1946, Folador 2006). These commodities are not recovered from waste produced from fish processed for human consumption in many areas of the world due to a lack of appropriate technology. A major unused resource is fish processing waste in Alaska. In the salmon canneries of Alaska, salmon production has traditionally been based on standard bone-in and skin-on canned products. The development of new markets is increasing the demand for more skinless/boneless (SB) frozen and canned salmon products. Demand for these new convenience salmon products has resulted in a substantial increase in the volume of material in waste streams discharged from the plants. Whereas traditional canned salmon results in waste of approximately 35% to 40% of the round fish weight, these new processes result in a waste of 50% and higher of the landed round weight due to more skin, trim, and frames in the waste stream. The increase of waste material from the expansion of SB production is estimated to add 20,000 to 30,000 t of salmon waste in the next three years. This is in addition to an annual average of over 100,000 t of salmon processing waste produced annually in Alaska. This added waste burden increases problems of meeting discharge limitations set by Environmental Protection Agency regulations in many salmon processing areas in Alaska. The problem of remotely located processing plants, the brevity of the canning seasons, and the expense of waste processing technology have favored the current practices, i.e., grind and discharge to local waters. Recent developments in international commodities markets have seen prices for fish meals and oils increase substantially, which makes the case for utilizing Alaska's salmon processing waste as a recoverable commodity. As a result, there is a need to develop new process technologies for capturing salmon processing waste and turning it into profitable, high quality fish meal, oil, and specialty products for the marketplace. This project is a continuation of previous research based on the modified silage process at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) (Stone and Hardy 1986, Nicklason et al. 2003). Other workers have demonstrated that preservation and ensiling of fish waste can be controlled with temperature, acid type, and acid concentration (Tatterson 1982, Lo et al. 1993). The objectives of the Montlake process are threefold: (1) Minimize use of imported chemicals. (2) Support short term storage with limited autolysis. (3) Design a process that is economical, using existing technology. Proximate Analyses of montlake meal prepared from pink salmon, sablefish, and coho salmon