THE FISHERMAN. JULY 26. 1995
Hake trawler Miss Tatum sits tied up at Ucluelet Seafood Processors as hake (photo below) is pumped into the plant's holding tanks.
From hake into surimi
Value-added product keeps two Ucluelet plants running
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t's not a fish to look at, with its front-heavy body and gaping mouth full of needle-like teeth. It's not for the barbecue, either— the presence of an enzyme causes the flesh to become soft and mushy on cooking. Because of that, Pacific hake, arguably the homeliest of the Pacific coast's mid-water ground fish, was for years sold over the side to foreign processing vessels from Poland, USSR, Japan, China and Greece. Only a small amount ever came ashore in this province for processing.
But in 1991, as a result of some innovative work done by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Victoria and two processors in Ucluelet — Ucluelet Seafood Processors and Pacific Coast Processors — the lowly hake became the basis for the B.C. surimi industry, producing the stuff from which imitation crab is made. Using natural prod ucts such as egg white and beef plasma which inhibit the flesh— softening enzyme, the fish is ground up and processed into 10-kilogram surimi blocks to be sold around the world.
To d a y, U F A W U members process hake into surimi at both USP and PCP, with some 200 people working seven to eight months a year.
At PCP, 10,000 tonnes of hake was processed last year, according to manager Ray Hansen, with two shifts kept busy from April through October producing some 3,000 tonnes of surimi, most of which is goes into the Korean market, with some going to the U.S. Six boats, using mid-water trawl gear, supply the plant, working in rotation. Delivery schedules are timed to get the fish into the plant with 10-12 hours.
USP workers lastyear processed 15,400 tonnes of hake, although company president Paul Bourke declined to say how much finished surimi was produced. Because of its higher grade — much of the raw product is fillets rather than whole fish — USP-produced surimi goes into a variety of markets, including the US. and Japan. USP gets its fish from some 20-25 trawlers each season, although it has five in rotation in any given month. Like PCP, production follows the migratory hake, keeping some 100 members busy in four shifts a weeks, usually from mid-May to mid-November. The Fisherman was in the two plants earlier this month, when hake production was in full swing. The photos on this and the next two pages follow UFAWU members as they take the fish from the dock to finished surimi.^
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