DIY. OF FISHER FISH and WILDLIFE SERVICE United States Department of the Interior UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AUG 141058 MUSLOS JULY 1958 COVER: Of approximately 160 species of fish marketed in the United States, Freezing and Storing Deep-Sea Lobsters--Some Tests on Cooked Whole Lobsters, by Joseph W. Slavin and Underwater Television Research off Cape Cod (M/V Albatross III Cruise 109) High-Speed Plankton Sampler and Multiplane North Atlantic Fisheries Investigations: Life History Studies of Various Species of In- July 1958 Washington 25, D.C. Vol. 20, No.7 -A47 120 July. Dic. FREEZING AND STORING DEEP-SEA LOBSTERS- SOME TESTS ON COOKED WHOLE LOBSTERS By Joseph W. Slavin* and John A. Peters** ABSTRACT IT WAS FOUND THAT DEEP-SEA LOBSTERS, COOKED ALIVE AND THEN FROZEN IN A BECAUSE OF THE LIMITED FROZEN SHELF LIFE OF THE DEEP-SEA LOBSTER, IT 2 2449 88134 91 INTRODUCTION Because of the problems in keeping deep-sea lobsters alive aboard commercial fishing trawlers, the lobster resource found off the coast of Massachusetts by the U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries research vessel Delaware has not been adequately exploited. Accordingly, information on a satisfactory method of preserving lobsters at sea would contribute to greater utilization of this fishery. Keeping deep-sea lobsters alive aboard commercial fishing vessels presents the following problems: (1) the high cost of equipping the vessel with the tanks and pumps necessary to provide the required storage space and sea-water circulation and (2) the high mortality rate of lobsters at certain times of the year in spite of precautions taken to outfit the vessel properly. Possible solution to these problems would be to freeze the cooked1/ whole lobsters aboard the vessel in either a blast or immersion freezer, since this equipment is well suited for freezing irregularly shaped products and can easily be installed on a fishing vessel. Information on the storage life of cooked, frozen, whole lobsters is also necessary in order to enable industry to decide if it would be feasible to market these lobsters. ** CHEMIST } REFRIGERATION ENGINEER, FISHERY TECHNOLOGICAL LABORATORY, DIVISION OF INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH AND SERVICES, U. S. BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES, EAST BOSTON, MASS. 1/EARLIER TESTS ON FROZEN LOBSTERS (POTTINGER 1950) SHOWED THAT WHEN WHOLE FROZEN UNCOOKED LOBSTERS WERE COOKED, THE MEAT STUCK VERY TIGHTLY TO THE SHELL AND WAS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO REMOVE. IN THE PRESENT EXPERIMENT, THE LOBSTERS THEREFORE WERE COOKED PRIOR TO FREEZING. |