Charvest and Cflow have developed “Csaver”, a vessel with a compact processing factory. Whereas traditional harvest vessels get docked and wait for the next mission, “Csaver” can take on and perform most other service duties as well.
“The concept is to continuously collect weaker fish that can’t be handled the same as the others, and ensure fast and efficient bleeding and cooling. In this way, we can take care of the fish that would otherwise have died and thus been thrown away,” explained Cflow marketing director Gunnar Hoff to SalmonBusiness about Charvest’s new service boat “Csaver”.
New mission
Hoff stressed that every fish that comes on board is sorted and quality checked before euthanised and bled. Once a fish is soaked, it is placed in insulated tanks with ice, which provides rapid cooling and the best possible quality during transport to processing.
“We use ice made from seawater, this gives a soft ice slurry that is very gentle on the fish. When sorting and farming operations are in progress for several days and with the assistance of an emergency bleed for the recording of weaker fish, a traditional harvest vessel must leave the locality before the operation is completed in order to deliver the fish.”
“Csaver, on the other hand, can deliver to further processing continuously without leaving the locality and then assist throughout the operation, quickly getting ready for a new mission,” he said.
More flexible emergency response boats
“Csaver has salvaged significant amounts of farmed salmon so far and has carried out a number of service assignments. Flexibility is high, and the concept of mobile tanks has proven to work very well. There have been missions where the vessel has harvested for a week in a row on the cage,” said Charvest CEO Ole André Leine.
Charvest was established in 2017 with the aim of providing the aquaculture industry with flexible emergency preparedness vessels with a high utilisation rate, which helps reduce wastage and is specifically designed to take out weaker fish in connection with fish handling.
Here, fish can be removed and harvested instead of dying in the net pen.
“Part of the challenge was that this type of harvest vessel usually have to go and deliver before the closure is complete, and that the harvest vessels can rarely be used for more than just harvesting. That’s why Charvest, in collaboration with Cflow, developed the “minibløgger’n” harvesting technology,” said Leine.
“Csaver” was delivered in May from Salthammer Båtbyggeri and is now under contract for Mowi Region Midt in Norway.
“We are very pleased with “Csaver”. Being able to have a boat that combines service missions and bleeding means that we have little lost time on the vessel and increase utilisation,” said the vessel and operations manager in Mowi Region Midt, Arthur Vartdal Midtgaard, when SalmonBusiness met him outside Cflow’s premises in Langevåg outside Ålesund, Western Norway.
Fish welfare is the most important
“We have developed a very compact and efficient in-flight process room, with solutions that ensure gentle handling and several methods for harvesting fish. We also have a new fish pump that is placed low in the vessel, and which gives the industry’s lowest lift height, which in turn leads to less stress for the fish,” explained Leine.
“Csaver” is equipped with several small mobile fish tanks for storing and harvesting fish.
“For prolonged operations, the tanks are rolled. Full tanks can be sent ashore with other vessels and transported on to reception by car. This allows “Csaver” to have an approximately 100 per-cent bleeding time on the cage, as they do not have to go to shore to deliver the fish,” said Leine.
Empty tanks come back from the factory are shipped on board, washed and prepared for reloading on side:
“In this way we achieve a flexible and long uptime. Both the processing compartment and the cargo bay are located below deck, making the vessel suitable for carrying out service missions outside of the harvest missions. Profitable and efficient, in other words,” said Hoff.
