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On the 22nd December 2003 a 4 tonne harvest was
carried out at Glenkens farm using the Ace Aquatec Pipeline Stunner. The duration of the harvest was 45 minutes which, allowing for run-up and run-down, i s equivalent to 6 tonnes per hour. There was no difference in carcass quality
between the traditionally harvested fish and stunned fish. A representative from the Humane Slaughter Association witnessed the harvest and indicated that the fish
were satisfactorily stunned. Torhouse Trout - Ace Aquatec's lead customer - commented that harvesting using the pipeline was operationally easier as the fish did not struggle when they
reached the harvest bins. In all a satisfactory result.
Technically this was a difficult harvest as the conductivity of the water had reduced to 28uS/cm. Previous
humane stunners have struggled at 77uS/cm for a 60 second treatment time. Thanks to the Jeff Lines curve the Ace Aquatec
Pipeline Stunner was able to extrapolate down to these extreme conditions and successfully stun fish in 30 seconds. Furthermore the low water temperature (3.1 C) meant that the fish
grouped up in the tube which gave the machine a load variation of over 5 to 1 to sort out in real time.
This land-mark harvest was achieved only because of the research work done by Silsoe and
Bristol University supported by the BTA and major supermarkets. Thanks go to Jeff Lines of Silsoe, our collaborators - Farley Engineering, Aquantic and Specialist Welding - and our lead
customer Torhouse Trout.
7th July 2003
The Ace Aquatec Silent Scrammer is "E" Enabled
Owners of Ace Aquatec Silent Scrammers know that the data contained in the logging sheets is useful to spot problems before they become serious and allows them to be in control.
However translating this data into meaningful information has required effort. That was before. The electronic logging sheet changes all this by giving the user easy to read graphs at the touch of a button.
The graph shown here is an example of the output of the logging sheets. A seal was active between midnight and 2am and this behaviour had remained consistent for the past 7 days.
"The idea behind the e-sheets", said Ace Aquatec's owner, John Ace-Hopkins, "was to make users their own seal expert. Whilst I thought that users may have been reluctant to give up
paper for the program they have been enthusiastic."
Further information on the research results and on the Ace Aquatec Silent Scrammer can be obtained from the company's web-site or by contacting John Ace-Hopkins at 25 Castle Street,
Dingwall, Ross-Shire, IV15 9HU, Scotland (Tel/Fax +44 (0) 1349 863319).
16th October 2002
Ace Aquatec granted first patent. Ace Aquatec has been awarded UK Patent 2369025 for the Ace Aquatec Silent Scramming system.
27th September 2002
Earlier this month a pilot whale came to visit the bay where an Ace Aquatec Silent Scrammer was deployed in SCRAM mode. The whale must have had to pass within 100 metres of the
device to enter the bay. The following day the whale was noticed and, since the system said the fish were not under threat at that time, the environmentally aware customer switched the
scrammer to LISTEN mode. The whale left the bay 5 days later and the system was switched to SCRAM mode once more. This story illustrates that no news can actually be good news.
16th August 2002.
Are salmon upset by aircraft? One of my customers recently reported that his Ace Aquatec Silent Scrammers started scramming when a low-flying military aircraft passed overhead. Of
course it might have been coincidence, but salmon are capable of detecting the low frequency pressure and sound waves of aircraft and therefore it is entirely probable that fish are
frightened by these events. If anyone else can confirm this story please contact me at
15th April 2002.
Ace Aquatec is launching its latest product – The Ace Aquatec Silent Scrammer (ANSS) at Aquaculture 2002 in Glasgow. This seal scarer follows on from the Silent Scrammer but has
many new features. On trial since December 2001 the system has proven extremely reliable and has proved to be 100% efficacious against naive seals.
10th November 2001.
Ace Aquatec has re-located to bigger premises in Scotland to meet demand and be closer to customers. The new contact details may be found on the company's web-site www.aceaquatec.com
2nd March 2001.
After a series of successful trials in Scotland Ace Aquatec launches the world's first triggered seal scarer. The Silent Scrammer is more efficacious than previous – random or continuous
noise-makers – because the seal is trained not to attack the protected fish by a process of negative reinforcement at the exact time of the attack.
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