Animal husbandry – Aquatic animal culturing – Handling and transportation
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-19
2003-05-06
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Animal husbandry
Aquatic animal culturing
Handling and transportation
C119S261000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06557492
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an efficient live fish transport system. Also, the present invention relates to the components of this system including: a modular live fish transport tote, an oxygen delivery system, an automated water treatment and delivery apparatus and methods for use therefor, as well as a chemically and biologically balanced aquaculture solution and method for making same. The invention is applicable to fin fish as well as other seafood species such as crabs, oysters, lobsters, shrimp, and the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Live fish in the United States have traditionally been transported over-the-road by “livehaul” trucks. These are typically flatbed trucks that have been significantly modified to carry fish. Modifications include the permanent installation of multiple insulated fixed tanks or boxes in the flatbed. These tanks typically have hinged lids on the top and one or more circular or rectangular release gates on the tank side(s) for discharging water and fish together. Mechanical aeration with small motors and propellers to splash the water have more recently given way to liquid oxygen tanks, manifolds carrying the gaseous oxygen to oxygen flow meters (or rotometers), and subsequently to bubblers located in the bottoms of the tanks.
The transportation of liquid oxygen is highly regulated. The United States Hazardous Material Regulations (HMR) have recently been amended to require permits for the transport of liquid oxygen held under 20 psi pressure. This is well below the 50 psi operating pressure used by most live fish transporters. Live fish transporters that employ a tank, cylinder or the like of cryogenic oxygen plumbed into a “process system” are not regulated by HMR and may be exempt from special permits (49 C.F.R. §173.320(b). However, any tank that is not an integral part of the process system or that is disconnected from the process system (e.g., a spare tank), is fully subject to HMR. Thus, to avoid cumbersome regulations and the hassle of the permit process, a preferred live fish transport system would be one that avoids the need for additional non-integral and/or spare tanks of liquid oxygen. The invention herein addresses this need by providing a more efficient oxygen delivery system.
In addition to facilitating compliance with HazMat regulations, the present invention may further facilitate compliance with FDA regulations. Newly instituted rules regarding prepared food fish (e.g., chilled or frozen seafood) require extensive testing and record keeping that is impractical for the smaller seafood producer. Though intended to increase the level of inspection and control of seafood as close to the source as possible, these rules have in fact encouraged the small producers to look more favorably upon selling fish live instead of frozen or chilled. As described in detail below, the present invention reduces costs and overhead associated with live fish transport, further encouraging producers to sell fish live rather than prepared.
The standard livehaul truck may be used for live bait hauling or fingerling stocking as well as for transporting live food fish. Long-haul livehaul trucks are usually 18-wheelers, and short-haul trucks are usually straight bodied three-axled 10-wheelers. Due to the variety and types of loads, pickup and discharge locations, the configuration of these livehaul trucks is far from standardized. Rather, the livehaul truck is a highly specialized, dedicated piece of equipment for which there is little or no other alternative use. Due to the limited supply and erratic schedules of these specialized trucks, live fish producers and their customers are rarely able to coordinate supply and demand.
Loading of the live fish onto the dedicated livehaul truck can be quite cumbersome and costly. Typically, the fish are loaded dry (i.e., in nets without water), directly from the tanks and/or ponds of the fish farm into the integral fish tanks of the livehaul truck. Fish producers are faced with dirty trucks arriving with biologically “hot” fish diseases, breaking the bio-security of their facilities with unknown consequences for remaining fish on the farm. and diseases almost certainly transferred to the fish being transported and sold. Furthermore, the livehaul truck frequently must be retrofitted with stiffening and strength materials to allow it to traverse the poorly maintained farm roads and climb the pond levee. The stiffening and strengthening add to the tare weight of the truck and, therefore, the shipping costs. The on-site loading results in a lot of wasted truck and driver time, which also adds to the total cost of shipping.
There are clearly significant disadvantages and drawbacks associated with the current livehaul system. The present invention attempts to address these problems, to remove the limitations and reduce the overall costs associated with live transport of commercial quantities of food fish.
For example, there is clearly a need in the art to “uncouple” the fish farmer from the traditional livehaul trucker's specialized equipment and instead allow the farmer to use any common carrier's equipment such as a flatbed truck or enclosed van. The present invention addresses this need by providing modular, standardized, forkliftable fish transport and storage totes designed to be readily interchangeable, regardless of the type of truck or fish to be transported.
There is further a need to reduce time between harvest and delivery. Traditional livehaul trucks require that the fish be “prepared” in either dedicated purging tanks for days prior to shipment or on the truck once the fish are loaded. Preparation typically involves chilling down the fish to slow their metabolism and the adjusting the water chemistry and dissolved oxygen level tank by tank on the truck. The present invention addresses this problem by allowing the farmer to ready the fish upon receipt of order. The truck then arrives to a shipment ready to be immediately loaded and transported.
On a related note, the current methods of thermally preparing fish are quite problematic. Typically, fish are chilled by adding bagged crushed or block ice to the fish tank. This method is very dangerous and usually harmful to fish. Sudden large water temperature changes (up or down) are stressful and potentially lethal to fish. Control and accuracy with ice is virtually impossible. The present invention addresses this problem by providing an automated water treatment and delivery apparatus, including a chiller/heat pump, to carefully control the amount of temperature change and the rate of change per unit of time, digitally monitoring and adjusting against given settings, without human intervention.
There is further a need to limit the handling, netting, moving by pump, draining via chutes, and otherwise touching of the live fish between production tank and end user, to eliminate the numerous intermediate transport handling steps that are currently required. The system of the present invention allows the fish to be harvested directly into modular fish transport totes, purging and preparing (e.g., chilling) the fish for shipment in the same tote, and transporting, distributing and holding the fish at the destination until sold without removing the fish from the harvest tote.
The above process not only reduces the introduction and transfer of biohazards but also results in considerable labor and material energy cost savings. Traditional harvest-purge-chilling systems use large non-insulated tanks that are open to the air. The larger volume of water and the lack of insulation together correlate to much more electrical power consumption. Likewise, the requisite rate of heat gain or loss correlates to much larger, more expensive compressor units and more compressor motors. For example, whereas fish in a traditional load-out” production tank, typically an uninsulated, out-of-doors, concrete tank, can take 36 to 48 hours to “prepare”, fish prepared using the system of the present invention can be prepared in under 8 hours with certai
Jordan Charles T.
Sea Chick, Inc.
Shaw Elizabeth
Smith Chalin A.
Smith Patent Consulting
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