A coronavirus outbreak shut down Trident Seafoods’ processing plant in remote Akutan for three weeks, just as the facility is preparing for the lucrative pollock season.
The factory in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, with up to 1,400 workers and the capacity to process up to 3 million pounds of raw fish per day, is the largest seafood production facility in North America. The pollock of the Bering Sea – the silver fish found in everything from fish sticks to sushi – is the focus of its operations.
This season is about to begin. Cod and crab processing was already underway. A statement from Trident called the decision to stop operations “extremely difficult and impactful”.
Trident’s decision marks the second major processing facility to close due to coronavirus outbreaks. The Unisea Inc. plant in Unalaska decided to stop operations after 55 employees tested positive since January, more than half during the travel-related quarantine. The unit is one of the largest in the state. Company officials say the outbreak at the plant started with a new year party in a residential building.
Trident says he doesn’t know how the virus got to the Akutan plant. Tests are underway on employees. A company spokesman did not immediately respond to the question of whether any additional cases were discovered.
Trident confirmed this week that four workers – three employees at the processing plant and one who works in the kitchen – tested positive for the coronavirus on Sunday. All four tested negative two weeks earlier. The cases were not discovered until an employee had trouble breathing and was taken by the Coast Guard to Anchorage for treatment.
The company released a statement on Thursday announcing “a three-week break from operations … to allow comprehensive testing and support a preventive quarantine for its 700 workers”.
The decision was made on the advice of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and other industry members, company officials say.
“Our protocol analysis has so far shown that our robust quarantine protocols have been followed closely and successfully,” said Trident CEO Joe Bundrant. “We have not determined how the virus entered Akutan, but we are investigating all potential gaps. This serious action to interrupt operations is necessary so that we can do everything we can to provide a safe work environment and resume all operations as quickly as possible. “
All 700 workers in Akutan are staying in company quarters and undergoing daily health checks. Another 365 kept after quarantining in Anchorage before going to Akutan can be moved to other Trident facilities.
Workers are being paid for their quarantined time at the closed campus facility and Trident “is working to provide support to make its isolation as tolerable as possible,” the statement said.
Akutan City, the East Germanic tribes and medical professionals provided essential assistance during this process, according to Trident spokeswoman Stefanie Bundrant. State officials meet with Trident employees daily.
“I am very grateful for your incredible support and partnership,” said Bundrant in the statement. She noted that Akutan mayor Joe Bereskin “made a great effort” to help evacuate the employee with respiratory problems who needed hospital care.
Trident is the largest vertically integrated seafood harvesting and processing company in North America, according to corporate information. The company employs more than 8,000 people and serves hundreds of independent harvesters across Alaska each year. It operates processing facilities in 10 coastal communities in Alaska and also owns and operates three large whitefish processors and four mobile processing vessels.