In the March 2010 issue of National Fisherman, we found an article about Bill Webber, Jr. of Cordova, who works as a fisherman, designer and manufacturer of equipment for producing top-quality salmon.
For some time, he has worked with a live-immersion bleeding process. Industry standard for bleeding invloves cutting the salmon’s gills and letting them bleed on deck (referred to as dry-bleeding), which removes approximately 25% of the salmon’s blood, according to Webber. Blood, in contact with air, coagulates; consequently, the fish dies slower. Using live-immersion bleeding, the salmon’s gills are cut, then Webber shuttles it into a seawater tank, where it continues to bleed, losing up to 75% of its blood, and then dies.
Recently, Webber has taken it up another notch, beginning to explore intravenous pressure-bleeding after researching it on salmon trollers in Southeast Alaska. In this process, he removes the salmon’s head and then plugs a pipette into the salmon’s dorsal artery. Pressured water then pumps through the salmon’s circulatory system, resulting in a 99% blood removal.
The process does have its drawbacks. If not monitored, extended pressure in the salmon’s system can cause it to swell. Webber notes that efficiency is also a problem, as the process takes about a minute for a medium sized fish. That can double the processing time for a fish. To address these issues, Webber installed four stations on his boat, two for himself, and two for his crew-member. They each simultaneously work two stations, processing two fish a once. Each station is also set up with a timer to help ensure the process doesn’t take go on too long.
Webber said he starts limited production on these systems to sell to other boats this year. In addition, he is exploring how the system can work for black cod and halibut!
You can find the article referenced here:
WKRS salutes Bill Webber and anyone who continues to explore new methods for improving the quality of the Alaskan salmon catch! We are excited to explore if intravenous pressure bleeding is a suitable process to employ with our own processors.
