Humane Fish Harvester
The Humane Fish Harvester is a new, innovative technology. Fish are pumped through its series of plastic tubes for instant electrosedation and slaughter.
Full system for sedation and slaughter of portion sized fish. Fish do not recover.
In portion-sized fish applications, the system renders fish senseless in less than 1 second and then maintains a stronger field for about 90 seconds, resulting in death. This option has been deployed at Scottish trout farms since 2012, where over 5 million portion-sized (500g) fish have been successfully slaughtered. All were examined for blood-spotting and flesh quality. Results: Examiners found less than 1% of fillets with any sign of hematoma and the technology passed two humaneness audits by U.K. regulators.
"Short-stun" version uses smaller footprint and sedates fish that must be bled.
For larger farmed salmonids (which require bleeding immediately after stunning), a smaller, single treatment protocol is used. It lasts just several seconds, renders fish senseless within the first second, and keeps fish unconscious for 180 seconds or more after administration of the stun. Fish are available for exsanguination immediately after stunning and do not recover during bleed-out. Trials of the Humane Fish Harvester have also been carried out on adult Atlantic salmon in seawater. Effective stun was achieved prior to immediate exsanguination.
