History
"It started with one boat," says Trident Seafoods' Chairman Chuck Bundrant, glancing at the etching of the 135-foot Billikin that hangs above his desk. "We asked why we couldn't catch crab and process crab on the same vessel. They said it wasn't going to work."
That was in 1970. Chuck Bundrant was an Alaska king crab fisherman, so were Kaare Ness and Mike Jacobson, who would soon become his partners. Harvesting crab was profitable in the '70s. Nevertheless, the three fishermen understood that the key to their future lay beyond the docks where the boats simply unloaded the catch. Together they built the Billikin, adding crab cookers and freezing equipment necessary to process their own finished product. They embarked on a new course for themselves and ultimately the Alaska seafood industry - the fishermen were now in the seafood business.
Trident Seafoods was founded in 1973, and the young corporation hooked its future to the bounty of Alaska's fishery resources and the demand for quality seafood that was building worldwide. A year later, the partners joined with Edd Perry, a Bellingham processor, and his company, San Juan Seafoods, adding to the ever-widening vision of the group - more opportunities to fish and process a larger array of products. In 1984, the partners were joined by yet another successful forward-thinking fisherman, Bart Eaton, who stepped in to pioneer new fishing technologies and manage the company's rapidly expanding fleet of company-owned vessels and independent catcher vessels. By that time, seafood buyers in Japan and Europe were regular customers, enjoying a full range of salmon, herring, shellfish and groundfish products caught by Trident's fishermen and processed at Trident's Alaska facilities.
Today, Trident's value-added processing facilities in Anacortes, Bellingham, and Seattle, Washington, turn out an ever-increasing selection of finished, ready-to-prepare seafood items for U.S. foodservice and retail distribution. From breaded whitefish for popular fast-food outlets to herb-glazed salmon portions and SEALEGS® (surimi seafood) for family dining, to frozen halibut steaks and fancy king crab sections for white-tablecloth restaurants, Trident products reflect the company's diverse access to sources and its commitment to product quality and value.
In the year 2000, Trident Seafoods was processing more than 250 million pounds of finished products and employing 4,000 people annually, making Trident Seafoods Corporation the most successful privately held, "All American-owned" seafood processor in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
Today Trident leads the Alaska seafood industry in the production of crab, canned sockeye salmon, and frozen Bristol Bay sockeye. Trident also ranks among the state's top five producers of pollock, cod, herring, and canned pink salmon. But the company has not forgotten its roots. "Make no mistake, our success begins with the fishermen," Bundrant says. Evidence of that partnership lines the walls and covers the bulletin boards through the firm's Seattle headquarters. Scores of photographs pay tribute to the strength of the vessels and the determination of the fishermen who literally put their lives on the line to bring fresh product to the company's Alaska facilities. Trident operates seven major primary processing plants in Alaska, including a Southeast pink salmon cannery in Ketchikan; Bristol Bay sockeye salmon canning and freezing operations in North and South Naknek; and diversified processing plants handling Alaska pollock, Pacific cod, Black cod, halibut and crab in Akutan, Sand Point, Kodiak and St. Paul. With the acquisition of the Tyson Seafood Group assets in 1999, primary processing plants for groundfish were added in Kodiak, Alaska and Newport, Oregon. Included also was a fleet of factory trawlers and fishing vessels that have greatly added to the production of groundfish fillets, blocks, surimi and roe.
Trident's commitment to its harvesters is spelled out in a simple statement framed in Bundrant's office and displayed throughout Trident facilities from Seattle to Akutan. It reads in part: "Trident fishermen are not dependent on us, we are dependent on them. Trident fishermen are neither outsiders to our business nor an interruption to our work, they are an integral part and purpose of it. Our growth and success is directly contingent upon a spirit of mutual respect, trust and the economic vitality of our fleets.” In addition, Trident and its fishermen are committed to the sensitive environmental communities in which we fish and process, knowing that our constant efforts to sustain the environment are necessary or our source of supply will be at risk.
Trident's partnership with its fishermen and processing crews extends to their families and processing communities as well. In 1998, the village of Akutan celebrated completion of the 14,000-square-foot Safe Harbor Church and Community Center, located at the water's edge of Akutan Bay. The project was entirely funded by Trident employees and stockholders. The company continues to be a generous financial supporter of non-profit community services, fishing vessel safety training, school activities, and scholarship programs for the local communities in which they operate, and commercial fishermen and their families.
"Ultimately,” Bundrant says, "the fruits of this partnership are shared by our seafood customers worldwide. We have a common goal: efficient and ecologically-mindful production of high quality fish and shellfish products - healthy seafood that our people and our customers are proud to put on the dinner table."
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