Aquaculture workers can process quality catch more efficiently with a new electric stunner which renders fish unconscious at speed.
Ace Aquatec’s Humane Stunner Universal (HSU) is nominated for Aqua Nor’s Innovation Award because of its ability to put fish to sleep before they leave the water, decreasing their stress levels and reducing the risk of lowering the quality of catch.
Nathan Pyne-Carter, executive manager director of Ace Aquatec, stated: “We saw that fish farmers had to compromise between efficiency and humane stunning. Our system stuns 100% of the fish, every time. It also stuns them in the seawater – so they are not stressed before they are rendered unconscious.”
Traditional methods of stunning see fish pumped out of the water and stunned by pneumatic, percussive or electric devices. Issues created by these methods include fish not being properly stunned and becoming stressed, triggering cortisol to release into their body – which in turn lowers quality of the filet.
There is a limit to how many fish it is possible to stun in a given time, added Ace Aquatec, stressing that systems are often mechanical, prone to downtime and require spare parts and repairs.
The company says that independent research studies show that by using its method and level of current there is no damage to the fish flesh or skin.
The technology is designed to work regardless of fish size, meaning it is also transferrable to farmed species other than salmon and trout, such as yellowtail, cod, seabass, seabream, halibut and turbot. At a lower setting, the system can be used as an anaesthetic for vaccinations. It has also been adapted to stunning crustaceans and prawns.
Stunning rates are affected by the flow speed of the pumping system used by the fish farmer.
