Trident on track to start processing salmon early July

Trident Seafoods is on schedule with preparation work to reopen its processing plant on the Wrangell waterfront after a three-year closure.

“We expect to start handling fish the week of July 10,” focusing on chum and pink salmon, Southeast regional manager John Scoblic said May 15.

The company expects to have 100 to 110 workers on the job, somewhat under the count of past years, he said. Trident has said weak chum returns were behind the decision to keep the plant closed since 2019.

Some workers will start before the first salmon come into the plant, and though Trident is contending with the same tight labor market as other companies, Scoblic reports it is on “a normal trajectory” to reach full staffing for the reopening.

Seattle-based Trident will put up frozen salmon (headed and gutted) and frozen “green roe” (unsalted) at the Wrangell facility, he said.

Until then, prep work is underway at the plant, including roof and interior repairs and making sure the refrigeration equipment is ready to go, he said. No new processing equipment is planned for this year.

“We are pleased to be opening and look forward to a successful season,” Scoblic said.

Trident and Sea Level Seafoods at Heritage Harbor are Wrangell’s main seafood buyers and processors.

When Trident is running, the town’s largest seafood plant is a big customer for the municipal water system.

In anticipation of that, the borough assembly in March approved spending $116,000 on spare parts for the water treatment plant to ensure no interruptions in flow until Wrangell can build a new water treatment plant in a few years.

Trident can use nearly half a million gallons of water a day at its peak. Although the plant will run at a lower capacity this summer, the borough decided to keep spare parts on hand to reduce the chances of any breakdowns affecting the water flow to the community.

“We believe we are going to be able to provide them their water,” Tom Wetor, borough public works director, said last week. Many of the parts are coming from a supplier in Sweden, though the order has encountered a delay with clearing customs, he said.

A plus is that the snowpack which helps fill the community reservoirs is in good shape, better than recent, drier years, he said.

All should be well, Wetor said, assuming there is no drought this summer.