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A coronavirus outbreak has shut down Trident Seafoods’ processing plant in remote Akutan for three weeks, just as the facility prepares for the lucrative pollock season.
The Aleutian Islands plant in 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. Bering Sea Pollock – the silver fish found in everything from fish fingers to sushi – is at the center of its operations.
This season is about to begin. Processing of cod and crab was already underway. A statement from Trident called the decision to halt operations “extremely difficult and impactful.”
The Trident decision marks the second major treatment facility to close due to coronavirus outbreaks. The Unisea Inc. factory in Unalaska has decided to shut down operations after 55 employees have tested positive since January, more than half during the travel-related quarantine. The establishment is one of the largest in the state. Company officials said the plant outbreak began with a New Year’s Eve party at a company accommodation.
Trident says he doesn’t know how the virus entered the Akutan plant. Tests are underway on the employees. A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to whether any additional cases had been discovered.
Trident this week confirmed 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 had tested negative two weeks earlier. The cases were not discovered until an employee struggled to breathe and was transported by the Coast Guard to Anchorage for treatment.
The company issued a statement on Thursday announcing “a three-week break in operations … to allow full testing and support a preventive quarantine for its 700 workers there.”
The decision was made based on advice from the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services and other members of the industry, according to company officials.
“Our protocol review so far has shown that our strong quarantine protocols have been closely followed and successful,” said Joe Bundrant, CEO of Trident. “We haven’t determined how the virus entered Akutan, but are investigating any potential loopholes. This serious action to shut down operations is necessary to enable us to do all we can to provide a safe working environment and resume full operations as quickly as possible.
Akutan’s 700 workers are housed in social housing and are subject to daily health checks. Another 365 detainees after quarantining in Anchorage before heading to Akutan may be moved to other Trident facilities.
Workers are paid for their time in quarantine at the closed campus facilities and Trident “strives to provide support to make their isolation as tolerable as possible,” the statement said.
The city of Akutan, eastern Aleutian tribes and medical professionals provided essential assistance throughout this process, according to Trident spokesperson Stefanie Bundrant. State officials met with Trident staff on a daily basis.
“I am more than grateful for their incredible support and partnership,” Bundrant said in the statement. She noted that Akutan Mayor Joe Bereskin “personally went to great lengths” to help evacuate the employee with respiratory problems who needed hospital treatment.
Trident is the largest vertically integrated seafood harvesting and processing company in North America, according to company information. The company employs more than 8,000 people and annually serves hundreds of independent fishermen throughout Alaska. It operates processing facilities in 10 coastal Alaskan communities and also owns and operates three large whitefish fishermen-processors and four mobile processing vessels.
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