Premium, Sea-packed, Megrim

The north Atlantic waters off the coast of Donegal provides the ideal environment for megrim. These flatfish are perfectly suited to the deep blue waters and sandy bottoms of the continental shelf, where they are caught and then exported to either Spain or France.

Relative to other whitefish species, megrim are easily damaged and require specific handling practices to maximise and maintain their quality, particularly prior to spawning. Improper handling can lead to bruising, blood spots and softening of the flesh. During 2003 and 2004, quality trials were carried out in the northwest of Ireland to establish handling practices for megrim, which would ensure the delivery of premium quality fish to the market.

During these trials, traditional and novel onboard handling options were compared to assess quality and temperature management of the catch, from net to market. As a result of these trials, voluntary standards were agreed with fishermen which allow premium quality megrim to be consistently delivered to market.

One vessel, the ‘Catherine R’, has been proactively involved in the development of this programme and is the first Irish vessel to take the necessary steps to meet these standards.

Onboard handling

The deck layout ensures the rapid and efficient washing, grading and gutting of megrim. The crew attend a BIM tailor-made care of the catch course on hygiene and handling standards and a designated crew member is made responsible for the exclusive handling of megrim. After sorting, gutting and washing, megrim are dipped in slush ice to rapidly reduce their core temperature to 0-2ºC. This step helps to preserve quality. Graded fish are carefully packed and iced in small waxed cartons then weighed and labelled to ensure full traceability.

Quality

One of the major benefits of the onboard grading and packing system is that grading and dipping in slush ice prior to packing removes the need to re-ice and re-grade. This significantly maintains fish quality and avoids bruising or blood spotting of this delicate species, by ensuring that fish do not need to be re-handled before arrival at market. Premium quality megrim packed using this standard can be identified by the vessel’s motif, which is printed on each of the waxed cartons.

Customers can be confident that:

• Megrim are washed and gutted carefully;
  
  
• Megrim are dipped in slush ice to rapidly reduce their core temperature to between 0-2ºC;
  
  
• Megrim are handled by a designated crewmember to ensure maximum care;
  
  
• Immediate dispatch to the export market eliminating the need to re-grade/re-pack ashore;
  
  
• Each box is labelled at sea to ensure full traceability.

View/Download the Sea-packed Megrim leaflet (299kb) in pdf format below.