| 22nd
December 2003
A
4 tonne harvest 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, is 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 Tro ut
- 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
Scrammer
and the Whale
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.
Silent
Scrammer Launched
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 Relocates
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.
Launch
of the first triggered Seal Scarer
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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