Process Lets Shippers Send Live Seafood Without Water

[mrmoshe]

Process lets shippers send live seafood without water

Shipping live or fresh fish without water or ice would save millions of dollars for seafood companies. A new waterless transport method could soon allow fish shippers to do just that.

Waterless transport technology has won several international "best invention" awards for Bonifacio Comandante of the Philippines, who presented the concept as his master's thesis two years ago at a San Francisco university. Since then, investors from Australia and Japan have partnered with Comandante to bring the benefits and savings to their countries.

Comandante's transport process involves bathing fishes in a proprietary 'buhi blend' that puts them in a soothing state of hibernation.

"It's an organic compound found naturally in the water, and I just found a way to trigger a hibernation process in fish," Comandante said in a phone interview last week as he was on his way to the International Boston Seafood Show.

The hibernating fish are kept at a controlled temperature and shipped upright in a vertical position to ensure that their gill covers remain open. Comandante said he has tested the transport method on 12 species of fish with 100 percent success.

"From the Philippines, we're shipping three kinds of groupers, two kinds of snappers and many crustaceans and mollusks," he said, estimating the savings from Southeast Asia to Hong Kong at $85 million for live products.

The inventor recently signed a $4 million contract to apply the technology to Australia's top seafood exports to the United States and Japan: tuna, rainbow trout and salmon.

"In Australia, we were successful in putting live salmon into hibernation for 10 to 12 hours," he said.

Comandante said his buhi blend shipping method has an even bigger application for fresh fish because it eliminates the need for ice.

"Normally when you send fresh fishes you need ice to go along with the fish. Without ice, you save somewhere between 20 percent and 25 percent in freight costs," he said. "If you figure the volume that is traded worldwide that goes to Hong Kong, China and Japan, the instant savings would be about $248 million," he said.

The buhi blend can also be applied to fish processing.

"You can time the death of the fishes before you process them," Comandante explained.

His Philippines-based company, Buhi International Group, is awaiting an international patent before fully commercializing the waterless shipping technology in selected countries. Comandante said he is very interested in "networking" with Alaska producers.

Meanwhile, the inventor is a finalist in a May 21 World Bank competition for another innovative project that boosts the nutritional content of shellfish by 70 percent. "The vitamins and green algae I use make up an acronym for fairy floss ha ha, but it's not what you think," he said.