FITC Programs

Sustainable seafood harvesting

Increasing the recovery and utilization of Alaska's fishery resources is a major goal for Alaska's state and federal fish managers and for Fish Tech. The development of new technology to reduce the capture and waste of non-target species is a critical national and international concern. These two research areas are where much of Fish Tech's efforts in Sustainable Harvesting has occurred in the past. Past projects in this area include:

Other areas of increasing interest have to do with the interdecadal changes in faunal assemblages. We would foster economic stability in coastal Alaska as its communities enter the next century if we could predict these changes in species abundance. A multi-faceted approach is likely to be required to effectively track these changes and predict future directions, but developing this will be a challenge without detailed background information. Unfortunately, much of the informational infrastructure taken for granted by scientists in the lower 48 has yet to be created for Alaska. Fish Tech, together with scientists at SFOS and in state and federal agencies, will work to address some of these problems. Projects we have been pursuing in this area include the analysis of Steller sea lion diets through scat analysis, analysis of forage fish abundance and availability. In the future we hope to develop a greater understanding of the ecosystem dynamics of Alaskan waters, develop marine faunal and floral lists for western Alaska for correlating species abundances, measuring rates of development in food web invertebrate species as a function of temperature. Another new area of sustainable harvesting research is probably encoded in the Essential Fish Habitat provisions of the Magnuson–Stevens Act.

Seafood processing

Fish Tech employs a variety of new technologies abstracted from diverse disciplines to assist large and small processors in making Alaskan seafood more profitable. We help develop new mechanisms allowing greater utilization of harvested fish. We help processors build higher quality into their products resulting in greater customer appeal. We promote technology development with processors, helping new product forms to become commercially feasible. Some of the projects in this area include:

Seafood safety

Seafood safety comes first in the Alaska Seafood industry as it does with Fish Tech. The goal of the industry and Fish Tech is to assure that the seafood produced in Alaska is the safest it can be. Seafood Safety is generally governed by rules promulgated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at the federal level, and by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) in the state. Fish Tech personnel work closely with agents of FDA and ADEC to test new techniques, develop promising technologies, and assist plants in developing HACCP plans to guarantee the safety of the seafood produced in them. Projects include acting as process authority for a number of smaller processors to insure that cooking times are appropriate. For several years we have been using a new kind of test to determine PSP levels in local shellfish in collaboration with FDA. Other projects of interest include:

Seafood quality

Quality means different things to different people, from food safety to visual attractiveness. Fish Tech has been at the forefront in fostering the highest quality in Alaskan seafood. Skilled Seafood processing faculty and technicians at Fish Tech test for a variety of factors from freshness and microbial counts to color and textural attributes. As new methods or more efficient and more precise updated methods are brought forward, the Fish Tech staff makes them available to the industry. Projects include:

Contaminants research

Wild caught Alaskan fish come from some of the most pristine waters on the globe. However, human induced contaminants such as fish waste, hydrocarbons from oil spills, and outbreaks of naturally produced marine toxins, like paralytic shellfish poisons, may occur. Fish Tech, partnering with industry affiliates and governmental agencies, is becoming involved in addressing concerns about contaminants. Scientists working on these efforts will do research in the new 45,000 sq. ft. Kodiak Fishery Research Center located adjacent to Fish Tech on Near Island, Kodiak. Ongoing projects include the development of new technology to produce high protein feeds for livestock and aquaculture from fish waste. We are also beginning a collaboration with scientists from UC Davis to determine the effectiveness of enzymatic hydrolysates made from fish waste as a nitrogen source in biogas generation. The biogas could be used to lower electrical costs at remote locations. In collaboration with colleagues from Fairbanks, we are also testing new methods to determine the levels of the microbe that produces PSP in local waters. Planned analyses of how sea otters avoid consuming PSP contaminated clams.

Education and training for industry

Formal and informal teaching, outreach, information transfer, and training are important components of Fish Tech's mission. In collaboration with the Marine Advisory Program, Fish Tech personnel are frequently involved in training industry workers in areas as diverse as food microbiology, HACCP training, and fish filleting. Our undergraduate teaching was stifled because of a lack of dormitory space, but new housing at the Kodiak Fishery Research Center will soon become available. We are developing undergraduate courses at the Certificate, Associate, and Bachelors level in collaboration with Kodiak College. We are developing a Seafood Industry Curriculum for 4th through 8th grade teachers to help educate K-12 students about Alaska's largest employer, the seafood industry. Working with industry leaders, we are also developing portable courses for seafood processing workers. Our graduate program, administered through UAF, is an interdisciplinary one with Master's and Doctorate degrees in Food Science and Nutrition. Projects include: