Marketing and Seafood Processing on Vessels
What are my options for marketing and processing seafood?
- Become a permitted Seafood Processor
- Have your catch custom-processed by a permitted Seafood Processor
- Sell your unprocessed catch directly off your vessel at the dock
You need a DEC Seafood Processors Permit to:
- Process seafood products that will be sold and consumed by humans.
- Store, clean, package, freeze, and distribute whole seafood products that will be sold and consumed by humans.
- Put fish in a box or other receptacle and ship it to a destination that is not a permitted Seafood Processer in Alaska.
- Sell harvested roe to a DEC seafood processor or other buyer.
- Repack and/or label custom processed seafood product.
You Do Not Need a DEC Seafood Processor Permit if:
- Your catch is custom processed by or sold to a DEC permitted Seafood Processor. Look up permit status here: Active Permits page
- You sell your catch from the vessel at the dock to the end consumer or a retail food establishment with a written variance from DEC that allows the food establishment to purchase commercially caught fish. Activity is limited to onboard gutting, gilling, or bleeding of fish or heading of shrimp and ground-fish.
If you plan on storing fish before selling or distributing, and you do not have a DEC Seafood Processors permit, you may need a warehouse permit from our Food Establishments Program.
Become a Permitted Seafood Processor!
Seafood Processors Application
Direct Market Vessels (Vessels 65 Feet and Under)
With a permit from DEC Food Safety and Sanitation, you may butcher, freeze, or package your own catch of seafood onboard the vessel. This permit requires you to:
- Conduct a hazard analysis to evaluate your process for potential biological, chemical, and physical hazards;
- Develop a HACCP plan that controls for any identified hazards;
- Butcher only on the fishing grounds at least 1/2 nautical mile from shore;
- Conduct processing activities under sanitary conditions;
- Store and use chemicals or additives in a safe manner;
- Have toileting facilities on board the vessel to include:
- US Coast Guard (USCG) approved marine sanitation device or portable toilet with a lid
- hand-wash sink
- soap,
- and hand towels;
- Maintain wastewater discharge records for 2 years;
- Disinfect, test, and protect processing water from contamination;
- Store and transport ice in a sanitary manner;
- Obtain ice from a DEC permitted ice manufacturer (approved source);
- Develop a written Sanitation Standard Operating Procedure (SSOP);
- Contact the USCG for any additional regulations that may apply.
Indicates an external site.