The commercial fishing industry is not for the humble of heart. Every year, commercial fishing is ranked as one of the deadliest jobs. In Alaska, the risk is higher due to severe weather, frigid waters, super waves, and icy decks.
A successful commercial fishing season means that fishermen not only have to contend with these dangerous conditions, but also have to protect themselves. At Silver Bay Seafood, LLC, an Alaskan-based fish processor, the importance of maintenance issues speaks for itself. To preserve its herring and salmon, Silver Cove relies on HOBO data loggers to monitor temperature conditions inside the holding tanks.
Plant Manager Wayne Unger of Silver Bay Seafood, manages the monitoring program. "Part of the fishing process is saving and maintaining quality," he explained. "In order to maintain the quality, we need to ensure that the temperature of the storage tank is around 34 degrees."
To verify the threshold of tank staying in Yinwan under the temperature condition, Unger chose HOBOU14 series LCD data Recorder U14-001, U14-002 temperature Detector.
The HOBO U14 features an easy-to-read backlit LCD display that allows fishermen a direct visual check of the frozen seawater (RSW) temperature.
"We have data loggers on all our ships," Unger said. "This is how we verify the fish is being refrigerated. The data we collect from U14-001, U14-002 is also kept on file with each delivery."
To analyze the collected data, Unger and his team used HOBOware® software. HOBOware Unger can plot, analyze and print data files quickly and easily.
"Using U14-001, U14-002 keeps everyone honest," Unger concluded. “If we have a problem, we want to know because it shows the data. When validating the condition holding the tank, you do a better job of maintaining the system and eliminating any concerns about quality.”
