Development of a new peeler could end The Road to Morocco run to process brown shrimp.

A more economic way of peeling these shrimp than trucking them to Morocco for hand-peeling should help the brown shrimp industry which this year had to resort to sending extra catch to fishmeal plants.
A peeler for tough-shelled brown shrimp is being developed by KM Fish Machinery
A/S of Dybvad, Denmark, and trial runs should begin within two to three months.

"One company I talked to in Morocco has 5000 women hand-peeling shrimp. Add in the costs of trucking the shrimp from the North Sea to Morocco and back, with two ferry trips added in, I have to wonder how much longer this can go on," says Niels Nielsen of KM.
"There has to be a cheaper, more efficient, way of processing brown shrimp and that's why we're working on” he says

This year saw high catches of brown shrimp, which drove the price down for fishermen. However, because of the cost of processing, prices stayed the same for consumers and the volume sold remained the same, according to seafood traders
Brown shrimp are small with a very tough shell, which has in the past made it impossible to peel with a machine. The shrimp used to be hand- peeled by Dutch fishing families, but labour costs shifted the peeling operation to
Morocco.
"We're working on a peeling machine which uses a vacuum system. Shrimp are placed in a vacuum for two to three seconds and this pops the shell away from the body. Shrimp can then go to a separating line to remove the flesh," says Niels Nielsen.
"However, the vacuum sys- tem has difficulty in separating the flesh from the tail because of the lack of moisture there. This is something we're going to have to figure out."
He estimates that the finished peeler will be able to handle between 300 to 400 kg. of brown shrimp an hour and he's hoping it will be ready for testing in two to three months.

This year the company has had strong sales of its shrimp grading equipment on board vessels of Spain, Iceland, Argentina and Norway. Land sales have been in Australia, Vietnam, Norway and Iceland.
"Argentina is funny. It's been quiet down there for the last five to six years and now Conarpesa has installed our graders on six of its boats," says Niels Nielsen.

"Spanish vessels have bought our graders for shrimp fishing off Angola."
According to Niels Nielsen, fishermen could get extra money for their shrimp by more careful grading and handling of their catch, especially if they keep an eye on the Japanese market and the large sizes it wants.