Harvesting fish is an inherently messy business, what with being at sea, the slippery creatures wriggling around and everything else. Shinkei is working to improve it with an automated system that more humanely and reliably dispatches the fish, resulting in what could be a totally different seafood economy.
On many fishing vessels, fish are left to suffocate on the deck, flopping about and injuring themselves, resulting in a higher likelihood of bacterial infection, shorter shelf life and worse taste.
A Japanese technique called ike-jime is one alternative, amounting essentially to a spike through the brain rather than a drawn-out, dirty death. But it takes a certain amount of expertise, and a person can only handle so many fish. That’s where Shinkei comes in: automating the process so that the fish don’t suffer and the resulting meat is longer-lasting and of higher quality.
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