An outbreak of COVID-19 aboard an American Seafoods factory trawler, with 86 of 126 crewmen on board testing positive, has the Seattle-based company testing crews of two more vessels returning from groundfish fisheries.
American Seafoods’ American Dynasty was under lockdown in Seattle on Wednesday, June 3, for deep cleaning, in the wake of an announcement from the company on Sunday, May 31, that after one crewmember tested positive and further tests showed most of the rest of the crew also were infected. The entire crew was in quarantine in Seattle.
Crewmembers of the American Triumph and Northern Jaeger were being tested June 3 as a precautionary measure, said Mikel Durham, chief executive officer of American Seafoods.
One person aboard the Northern Jaeger reported feeling ill onboard last week, was transported to a hospital, tested negative for the virus, and remained hospitalized. Both of those vessels were returning to port at Bellingham, WA.
“We’re conducting these tests out of an abundance of caution,” Durham said. “Protecting the health of our crewmembers and the communities where we operate is a top priority for us.”
American Dynasty had been fishing for hake, also known as Pacific whiting, off the coast of Washington state in May when one of the crewmembers became ill. Everyone on board that vessel had been tested pre-season through the University of Washington and cleared to board the vessel.
The company is cooperating with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Centers for Disease Control, public health officials for Seattle and King County and the Port of Seattle to determine how the infection reached the vessel, Durham said.
Big catcher processors who fish for hake will be back in the Bering Sea for the groundfish B season, which begins in mid-June. It was not immediately clear which American Seafoods vessels would be participating in the B season.
Trident Seafoods closed the company’s Bellingham plant for the day on June 1 for deep cleaning and to assess if contact tracing and isolation would be necessary for anyone who might have been in a common area shared by individuals in contact with or from the American Dynasty, said Trident spokesman Shannon Carroll.
“In our Lower-48 value added seafood operations, we have strong precautionary measures in place to detect and prevent spread of the virus,” Carroll said. “Our closure today was consistent with that precautionary approach.”
Meanwhile, he said, Trident Seafoods’ Alaska 14-day quarantine and testing procedures were going smoothly and remain consistent with best practice, “so we haven’t needed to make adjustments, but are constantly evaluating new information.”
