Harvested fish life-cycle:
- We capture our fish using a trawl specifically designed to catch Haddock and avoid at-risk species such as Atlantic Cod. Fishing using this technology has been proven to be the only way to harvest the abundant Haddock stock while doing the least amount of damage to the sensitive Atlantic Cod stock.
- Using short smaller tows we are able to ensure that the fish come up to the boat without any quality deterioration. Other vessels fish larger and longer tows that can sometimes damage the fish by compacting it together in the back of the net.
- Once the fish is brought aboard the vessel, it is dropped into a holding tank sheltered from the effects of the sun or other harsh weather conditions. This also allows us to chill the fish easily if it is noticed that they are getting too warm.
- From the holding tank, the fish is brought to a sorting table and gutting machine by a conveyor system. The offal is removed from the fish and the fish are graded in terms of species and sizes.
- The fish then travel along another conveyor system to a bleeding tank where they are allowed to float in circulating seawater with the intention of cleaning and allowing the blood to drain out of the flesh.
- From the bleeding tank, a computer controlled scale system brings the bled and washed fish to a scale, weighs the fish and sends it down to the refrigerated fish hold where they are layer packed into insulated boxes and chilled down just below 0° Celsius using Optimar slurry ice technology. With the offal removed and the internal temperature of the fish is below 0° Celsius this allows us to bring back to port fish of a superior quality and freshness than any other vessel.
- Once the box is full, a tag is printed automatically by the computerized scale system containing the date, the location, the species, and the grading information for the fish in the box. The tag is attached to the box and once the fish is back in port we can use this information to correctly plan out processing and shipping while having the ability to track and detect any problems with regards to the quality of the fish.
- Through out the harvesting cycle, our crewmembers test the internal temperature of the fish with thermometers to ensure that we maintain freshness and maximize the quality of the catch. Temperature control is the key component in our process.
The result of all these steps is a consistently top quality fillet as shown in the following picture.
