Speaker: Dr. Niki Khan, Lead Bioscientist, Ace Aquatec

Since 2022, decapod crustaceans, such as crabs, lobsters, and prawns, have been recognised by UK legislation as ‘sentient beings’. Despite this, there has been little movement on industry regulations, and decapod crustaceans are often treated in extreme ways. For example, most are killed by suffocation, chilling, or by boiling- methods that would be unthinkable for terrestrial species.

Change is currently being driven by consumers, and supermarkets have accepted this change in public attitudes with increasing bias towards producers that adopt welfare focused practices, such as electrical stunning. For producers that adopt this practice shift there is increased market access. However, the majority of decapod production originates from small-scale businesses, and these producers risk being locked out of the global market due to the cost and access to electrical stunning equipment.
Large-scale electrical stunners exist, and on the other end of the scale, is the Crustastun, where a single individual is stunned at a time. These are useful in very different scenarios; either large scale production, or individual processing such as that seen in restaurants. However, currently, there are no ‘in between’ solutions- something that can stun more than one individual at a time, but doesn’t require a multi-tonne throughput.

Here, I will discuss the development of a small scale, portable, in-water electrical stunner with a 20kg batch capacity. This would be a valuable opportunity to also discuss further practical applications of such a stunner, as well as design considerations.