Pair of plant openings.

• Position: Seafood processing plants Unisea Inc. and Westward Seafoods Inc.

Pair of Plant Openings. Separate celebrations in July marked the openings of two new Dutch Harbor seafood processing plants specializing in surimi production. Unisea Inc., a Redmond, Wash., company owned by Nippon Suisan Kaisha of Japan, flew state dignitaries out to the Aleutian Island chain for a ribbon cutting on July 6, and Westward Seafoods Inc., a Seattle, Wash., firm owned by Taiyo Fishery Co. of Japan, dedicated its plant on July 25.

A fish protein concentrate produced primarily from pollock, surimi is used to manufacture a variety of seafood products. The Unisea plant can produce 400,000 pounds of surimi per day; the Westward Seafoods plant, roughly 320,000 pounds daily. Using efficient waste-recovery techniques, both plants salvage all fish scraps for on-site production of fish meal, bone meal and oil. The fish oil is used to fuel plant generators.

Unisea's $73.5-million surimi processing plant, the largest in the United States, is the company's second Dutch Harbor surimi plant. The investment includes $14 million in state-of-the-art fish processing equipment, $8 million for waste-recovery equipment, and $9 million for employee housing and other amenities. More than 275 workers are employed at the plant.

Construction of the Unisea plant began in June of 1989. Encompassing a dock, power plant and other support buildings, the entire...