Insulated Thermal Covers
- Customised product completed to client requirements
- Reflect heat and insulate fish or shellfish products
- Improves quality control
Article in NZ Aquaculture July/August 2005
Special cover keeps shell fish cool.
Covertex has introduced a special tarpaulin for mussel farmers and others in the aquaculture industry who require a cover that will not attract or retain heat.
Skipper Alan Barker of the mussel company Musscon Ltd said it was a two-hour trip from Waiheke Island to the refrigerated trucks on the Coromandel Peninsula. Some of the mussels on the top of the bags were exposed for up to six hours, and were drying and opening in summer heat. "We had to find a way to keep the temperature down," he said.
Musscon contacted Covertex, which produced the thermal cover within about 10 days. Matthew Bouzaid of Covertex said the company had a similar product for wrapping individual tuna, and the cover applied the same technology.
The result is a triple-layered tarpaulin measuring 6m x 3.5m, with a layer of insulating foil welded in the middle. The covers are coloured grey to help reflect heat, and have eyelets along the sides which make it easy to lash down over the mussel trays. This provides the windbreak, with the insulating foil preventing the heat attraction experienced with normal tarpaulins. "This is a customised product, so we can make the tarpaulins to the size required by the client," says Matthew.
The difference between the thermal cover and an ordinary tarpaulin, according to Alan, is "simply phenomenal, you can put your hand in the top of the bag five hours after it was loaded on board and the mussels feel like they have just come out of the water".
Alan says the covers are heavy to handle and catch the wind, but one person can manage them as long as they are folded up. "It's only about 10 minutes extra work".
And the added benefits, particularly during the summer, far out weigh the disadvantages. "It's all about better quality control. We're always looking for ways to make our product the best possible."
