A study of refrigeration technology options for the Northern Prawn Fishery and the Sydney Fish Markets. A Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and NPF Industry Pty Ltd project to review the technology alternatives, and recommend practical, cost-effective methods to overcome the immediate issues and devise a technology path forward for the seafood cold food chain (published Dec 2013).  

In 2014, the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre and Tropic Ocean Prawns funded $675,000 for Expert Group to design and install a new refrigeration system in a typical trawler operating on HCFC-22, and develop a technical specification to assist industry.  

The fishing vessels in the Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF) and other tropical Australian prawn trawl fisheries have one of the most demanding tasks for refrigeration equipment, operating in confined spaces under heavy load, in common plant rooms with the main engine and other equipment, in high ambient temperatures, requiring snap freezing of tonnes of sensitive product using equipment operating in a moving vessel, with heavy vibration and are exposed to corrosive salt spray and water. 

The final result was a system that is both cost-effective and more environmentally friendly that used less refrigerant due to the improved containment design. The system included the latest options in automatic controls, variable speed drives and economisers on all compressors, computer monitoring and remote fault diagnosis for vessels at sea. 

In 2015 Expert Group was congratulated for being awarded the Queensland and National Seafood Award for Research and Development for the work completed.