|
One of the greatest advances in inshore fishing technology is
submerging the catch almost immediately after capture in heavy-duty
insulated boxes carrying "slush ice", Seafood Cornwall reckons.
They
are made by, Saeplast, a firm in Iceland, and there is already proof
that when using the technique involving slush ice - a mixture of
seawater and ice - in initial fish storage, a rapid drop in the
core-temperature of that fish occurs.
Compared to the
temperature drop to the optimum store temperature of around 2C on fish
just covered by traditional flaked ice, the fish's core doesn't reach
that temperature for several hours.
Now widespread throughout
Cornwall, the use of Saeplast insulated boxes extends to boats from
16ft to more than 60ft in length, where the use of slaked ice can be
directed at selected species like squid and red mullet.
In a
move to extend the shelf life of fish, and hence score higher
first-sale prices, the UK importer of Saeplast boxes, G W Containers,
based near Cannock, has already delivered more than 800 boxes in a
range of sizes to Westcountry fishermen.
Ex-skipper Robert
George from Newlyn, now acting as quality adviser to Seafood Cornwall,
is instrumental in promoting the "quick-chill" concept and for the past
two-and-a-half years has gathered scientific data to support the use of
slush ice bins.
He said: "Bringing those boxes into Cornwall was
really an offshoot of a Seafish project studying a new method of bottom
trawling. The boxes arrived to carry aboard the trial boats to store
the catch before landing and get a premium price; after the trials we
managed to borrow those boxes for a while, distribute them to fishermen
around Cornwall and wait for the results.
"There is a
misconception that fish from day-boats - those landing their catch
every 24 hours - is always of a higher quality than fish landed from
traditional bigger boats, those doing trips of several days.
"Before
the use of those boxes, some day-boat fish just covered by ice, even
fish landed after having had no contact with ice at all, was of
questionable or very poor quality.
"Yet aboard bigger boats,
within minutes the fish brought aboard is gutted then stored in the
iced fish room, making the quality superior.
"So we had the job
of introducing the use of insulated boxes to the day-boat men without a
chilled fish hold, and we knew it wasn't going to be easy. Some
fishermen asked why should they bother, saying 'we all get the same
price anyway'.
"But they soon saw the difference in quality and
price. Although at first that difference was small, now it is often
significant.
"Also, the merchants and final retailers saw a
major increase in the product's shelf life, some moving from three to
as much as nine days.
"We used internally-fixed temperature
probes and hand-held probes to undertake temperature sampling of many
species of fish, both at sea and ashore, aboard boats using those boxes
and those not - there was a massive difference in quality.
"And
with mackerel as a prime e ample, some found 'fresh' on the fish market
the following day from boats without insulated boxes, were far from
fresh, I wouldn't have eaten them."
He said his team produced graphs comparing the two options, when the results became even more staggering.
"Placing
fish for just 20 minutes in slush ice as soon after capture as possible
provides an equivalent core temperature drop to fish spending six hours
in a bigger boat's chilled fish room," said Nathan de Rozarieux, leader
of Seafood Cornwall.
"Perhaps the benefits of all that work are
not always seen on the fish market, but seen five days later on the
retail counter when the fish may still be in very good condition.
"The
whole idea is to allow both fishermen and those ashore to make a direct
link between keeping the temperature as far down as you can to reach
the optimum storage temperature as soon as possible - for protection
from bacterial growth.
"Loss of marketable fish from the action
of bacteria, called spoilage, can be very costly to all, yet is
preventable and it is the customer in the end who sees the need for
that. So, we will continue to push ahead with promoting the use of the
bins so that fishermen see that too.
"We are already hearing from fishermen in other areas asking for further information, and that is very rewarding."
Further details of the Saeplast insulated boxes can be found on the G W Containers website.
article copyright PHIL LOCKLEY for the WESTERN MORNING NEWS
 |
