Dundee-based aquaculture specialist Ace Aquatec nets key Americas distributor

Aquaculture tech firm Ace Aquatec – which boasts Scottish video game entrepreneurs Chris van der Kuyl and Paddy Burns as investors – has hired its first equipment distributor in North, Central and South America.

The tie-up will see Pisces supply the Dundee-headquartered firm’s stunners for tilapia, trout, salmon and seabass to its customers across the Americas, where fish welfare and ethical practices “have moved to the top of the agenda”.

The Scottish business added that Pisces has “extensive” experience in serving processors worldwide and an established network, and is “well-placed to supply Ace Aquatec’s in-water electrical stunner, which has a 100 per cent stun rate and an impressive record of reducing stress at harvest”.

Ace Aquatec’s chief sales and marketing officer Tara McGregor-Woodhams said: “Pisces have been leading the way in fish processing since 1983 and are highly regarded as the best in class for manufacturing a range of award-winning fish processing machines. This partnership will help us to roll out and lead on the distribution of our stunning technology across the Americas, and gain key insight into one of our key target markets.”

Pisces Fish Machinery Inc chief executive Trevor Wastel said the partnership with Ace Aquatec is “exactly what the Americas market has needed”. He added: “In-water electrical stunning has long been on our radar for helping strengthen our full-line offering in the fish processing industry. Not only does it create a calmer processing line before bleeding and filleting, but it accelerates the move to higher welfare standards at every point of harvesting.”

The deal follows Ace Aquatec appointing Australia’s Fresh by Design as its first distributor in the Asia Pacific region.