PART V. UTILIZATION OF ALASKA SALMON CANNERY WASTE AS 

 A SOURCE OF FEED FOR HATCHERY FISH 



By R. G. Landgraf, Jr.,* D. T. Miyauchi,**, George Pigott,*** 



and M. E. Stansby**** 



Intrcxiuction 



Research toward utilization of Alaska salmon cannery waste has been 

 carried out since 1947 by theU. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Particu- 

 lar emphasis has been placed on utilization of visceral portions of the 

 waste as a feed for hatchery fish and on the use of the vrtiole waste or 

 the waste excluding heads for fur-animal food. This research has shown 

 that the waste and the soft visceral parts, in particular, are an excel- 

 lent source of protein and vitaaiins and that much of the vitamin content 

 suid the best protein are concentrated in the fish eggs. In developing 

 a practical method of utilizing these materials frcan Alaska salmon 

 canneries, several problems had to be overcome. 



Transportation charges fron Alaska are an important item in the 

 over-all cost of collection and delivery of such material to potential 

 users. Transportation companies have insisted that salmon offal would be 

 acceptable for transportation only if it were packed in metal containers. 

 This, in effect, would virtually double the freight on such materials, 

 because the cost for shipping the empty containers to Alaska would approx- 

 imately equal the cost of returning the filled containers (of course, the 

 freight rate for any frozen material on the return shipping would be 

 slightly higher) . Experiments with different types of containers resulted 

 in development of a method of bagging the salmon waste in an inner plas- 

 tic (polyethylene) bag with an outer burlap bag. Laboratory tests indica- 

 ted that such a container wotild withstand the bagging and freezing 

 operations and the subsequent rough handling that it would normally 

 encounter. 



Another problem that nad to be overcome was the development of a 

 practical method for the separation of the soft visceral portion and of 

 the eggs alone frcan the entire waste. The waste as it comes from the 

 "iron chink" contains heads, tail portions, fins, viscera, and eggs. 

 Preliminary observations made at canneries during the summer of 1950 indi- 

 cated that several approaches to the problem were possible. However, the 

 most desirable method, if feasible, would involve complete mechanical 



* Chemist, Fishery Products Laboratory, Branch of Commercial 

 Fisheries, U. S. Fish sind Wildlife Service, Ketchikan, Alaska. 



** Chemist, (Fishery Technological Laboratory, 



*** Engineer, (Branch of Commercial Fisheries, 



***» Chief, Pacific Coast and Alaska (U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

 Technological Research, (Seattle, Washington. 



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