^^^^;^ 



separation right at the chink — such 

 that the desired, soft visceral por- 

 tions might be diverted separately 

 from the other waste onto a packing 

 table. This would avoid any costly 

 hand separation of the individual 

 constituents <^f the waste. 



Commercial-Scale Test 



A large-scale collection of approx- 

 imately 100,000 pounds of frozen salmon 

 viscera and 3,000 pounds of frozen 

 salmon eggs was made at Petersburg, 

 Alaska, during the summer of 1951 • The 

 purpose of this collection was to test 

 out on a commercial scale the feasibil- 

 ity of bagging and freezing viscera 

 and to demonstrate to the commercial 

 transportation concerns that sucn mate- 

 rials could be successfully handled in 

 this way. This would possibly clear 

 the way for a change in the regulations 

 to allow shipment in bags rather than 

 in cans, since use of cans is not econ- 

 omically feasible. The materials col- 

 lected are being used by Fish and 

 Wildlife Service hatcheries in the state 

 of Washington for regular fish feeding. 

 Careful records were kept of all costs 



involved in the collection so that in the future some basis would be 

 available for estimating such costs for even larger scale operations, 

 was anticipated that if the collection of the salmon waste for use in 

 fish hatcheries proved to be economically feasible, a much larger poten- 

 tial market (a feed for fur-bearing animals) would be opened up and that 

 many millions of pounds of such materials might be marketed each year. 



Details concerning the laboratory research on this project will be 



published at a later date. The balance of this report deals with results 



of the large-scale collection of salmon viscera and eggs at Petersburg, 

 Alaska, during August 1951 • 



Installation of Equipment and Collection of Waste 



After consultation with operators of the cannery at Petersburg, shields 

 were devised and installed at the rear of the iron chink to separate the 

 viscera from the bony portions of the salmon waste. Besides the shields, 

 the following equipment was installed at the cannery: A gurry chute, 10 by 

 10 inches by 60 feet; a work platform, 12 by 20 feet, located 7 feet below 

 the dock level; a draining table, 8 feet by 29 inches, made of 2 by 4 mch 

 pieces placed on edge and spaced three-eighths of an inch apart; and a slide. 



Figure V-1. Rear view of iron 

 chink shows the grate in the 

 floor through which the 

 viscera were diverted into a 

 wooden chute underneath the 

 cannery floor. 



It 



52 



