A preliminary report on a mechanical crawfish harvesting unit

The commercial crawfish industry in Louisiana is rapidly expanding. Because current harvesting methods are labor intensive and expensive, an automated mechanical harvester was developed. The automated harvester is based on high density trapping with frequent trap movements. A linear move irrigator,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAquacultural engineering Vol. 4; no. 4; pp. 247 - 255
Main Authors Edling, Robert J., Lawson, Thomas B.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 1985
Elsevier Science
Subjects
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Aquaculture
Biological and medical sciences
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Crustacea
Edible crustacean
Harvesting machine
United States
Arthropoda
America
Louisiana
Mechanization
Decapoda
Invertebrata
North America
Aquaculture
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Summary:The commercial crawfish industry in Louisiana is rapidly expanding. Because current harvesting methods are labor intensive and expensive, an automated mechanical harvester was developed. The automated harvester is based on high density trapping with frequent trap movements. A linear move irrigator, which is adapted to large areas, was used as a chassis. Movement of the harvester was controlled automatically. The machine lowered traps for a preset trapping time, lifted and emptied the traps and moved a programmed distance before resetting the traps. In a comparison test, the machine equaled or exceeded the efficiency of standard trapping methods. Little mechanical difficulty was experienced with the harvester.
ISSN:0144-8609
1873-5614
DOI:10.1016/0144-8609(85)90017-2