A team of seafood experts has broken new ground in on board automation. For the first time, a prototype ‘stunning and tailing’ machine has been tested at sea on a commercial fishing boat catching nephrops (langoustine) to be made into scampi.
The ability to stun and tail nephrops at sea offers significant benefits for the UK nephrops supply chain improving crew working conditions and meeting animal welfare requirements.
With funding from seafood business along the supply chain, matched by the UK Government Fisheries and Seafood Scheme, the broad partnership of catchers, processors, retailers, academics, and seafood technology experts Optimar, has successfully designed, built and tested a machine which can withstand the harsh conditions of commercial fishing.
Kara Brydson, Executive Director at Fisheries Innovation & Sustainability, said: “There is still some way to go to improve the prototype and ensure it is fit for purpose for UK vessels and businesses. But this collaboration has achieved something that has never been completed successfully and will be the catalyst for more precompetitive collaboration to reduce operational costs, improve efficiency and meet new regulations head on.”
This project is now a case study on the UK Government website.
See the project partners here https://fisorg.uk/nephrops-prototype-machine/
