Port Tenant Uses “Salmon Conveyor” to Move Fresh Seafood

August 23, 2022 | News

Supporting innovation is part of our culture at the Port of Anacortes, and that includes the creative local businesses that call the Port home. If you’re down at Pier 1 this month, you may see some unusual operations as Port tenant M&M Fish Co. works their “salmon conveyor” to move fish from the fishing vessels to be packaged up and trucked out.

M&M Fish Co. owner Greg Moe has been a Port tenant for nearly 20 years. He runs a commercial and wholesale crab operation right on Pier 1, where he stores crab in large totes that continuously circulate saltwater and air to keep the product fresh before shipment. This year, there’s some new seafood making its way across Moe’s equipment: salmon, caught by boats with local home ports. As these boats come in with their catch, Moe and his crew are assisting with an offload process that is pretty unique to us!

Salmon is not new to Anacortes, and certainly not to the Port’s Pier 1. Local Tribes have harvested seafood in the waters around Fidalgo Island since time immemorial, and our community and Port have been a thriving salmon and seafood fishing and processing center for well over a century.

Technology has changed a great deal over the years. Under M&M’s “salmon conveyor” process today, vessels loaded with salmon pull up to the dock, where crews draw the fish out of the vessel’s hold using a large hose. The hose links to a conveyor belt that transfers the fish to large bins. Moe’s crew adds a layer of ice on top to keep the product fresh. Then the bins are sealed, weighed and loaded onto trucks bound for processing plants.

Thanks to Greg Moe, M&M Fish Co., and their partners, we are reminded once again of how fortunate we are to have such hardworking and creative tenants as part of our community and our Port. Our ability to ensure that local fisherman can bring in world class, fresh seafood for domestic and international markets is a benefit we are proud to bring to the Anacortes community and economy!