Including perishable commodities and even faster than the flesh of other animals. Decay speed after catching and harvesting fish is strongly influenced by the technique of fishing and harvesting, the biological condition of the fish, as well as handling and storage techniques on board. Therefore, as soon as the fish are caught or harvested must be immediately preserved by refrigeration or freezing.
In principle, the cooling is to cool the fish as quickly as possible to a temperature as low as possible, but not to be frozen. In general, the cooling can not prevent decay completely, but it is getting cold temperature of fish, the greater the reduction of bacteria and enzyme activity. Thus through the cooling process of bacteriology and biochemistry in fish are only delayed, not terminated. To cool the fish, the fish should have been covered by a cooler medium thereof, can be liquid, solid, or gas. Cooling can be done by using a fish refrigeration, ice, ice slurry (liquid ice), and the cold sea water (chilled sea water).
The easiest way to preserve fish with ice cooling is used as a preservative, both for preservation on board as well as on land, that is, when at auction, for distribution and when marketed. Fresh fish storage using ice or another cooling systems have limited ability to maintain the freshness of the fish, usually 10-14 days.
First to note in cold storage fish with ice is what the right amount of ice used. Ice is required to lower the temperature of the fish, container and air until close to or equal to the temperature of the fish and then maintained at a temperature as low as possible, typically 0 ° C. Comparison of ice and fish are ideal for cold storage with ice is 1: 1. It is also to be seen in the preservation of fish with ice is a container used for storage should be able to maintain the ice as long as possible so as not to melt.
Containers lawyer-es-an ideal to be able to maintain the temperature remains cool, strong, durable, waterproof, and easy to clean. It required a container that has a good insulation. Product Processing Research Institute for Marine and Fisheries, and Biotechnology (BBRP2B) has developed a hatch or insulated fish crates. Palka / crates made of fiber glass and insulation material used is polyurethane.
In fact the handling of fish after capture has not been done and this is demonstrated by the high level of shrinkage harvest (postharvest losses), which is estimated to be around 27% (DG, Processing and Marketing of Fishery, 2007).
Application of fish handling practices that have not been good catches are:
1) The catch is not made preservation by cooling with ice or refrigeration.
2) The amount of ice used for preservation is less than required.
3) Containers or hold / storage crate fish are not insulated or insulation used is not as required.
4) preservation technology applied do not correspond to the length of time of the arrest. For example, ice is only able to preserve fish 10-14 days, it is not appropriate to use to preserve fish with a long arrest up to 40 days. In addition, sanitary conditions and hygiene at the landing site and in the fish market aggravate the situation.