Fish singulation system and method
The fish singulating system efficiently transforms irregular fish streams into a single, oriented stream by decoupling separation and rejection processes, ensuring high throughput and minimal damage, particularly for expensive fish species like salmonids.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- JP2025522859
- Authority / Receiving Office
- JP · JP
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2022-11-08
- Filing Date
- 2023-11-07
- Publication Date
- 2025-10-24
AI Technical Summary
Existing fish processing systems struggle to efficiently convert large quantities of randomly oriented and overlapping fish into a single, periodically timed, and well-oriented stream for industrial processing, particularly for expensive fish species like salmonids, while maintaining high throughput and minimizing damage.
A fish singulating system comprising first and second conveyors with a rejection structure that separates and orients fish in two steps: initial separation on the second conveyor and subsequent rejection of multiple fish, using sensors and structures to ensure each slot contains a single fish, and optionally reorients fish for uniform orientation.
The system effectively converts irregular fish streams into a single, periodically timed, and well-oriented stream, enhancing processing efficiency and reducing fish damage, especially for valuable species like salmonids, by decoupling the separation and rejection processes to balance speed and care.
Smart Images

Figure 2025535425000001_ABST
Abstract
Description
[Technical Field]
[0001] The present invention relates to a fish singulating system configured to move an irregular stream of randomly oriented fish into a single stream of fish, each fish in the stream defining a longitudinal direction from a head region to a tail region, the system comprising a first conveyor extending between a first inlet and a first outlet, and a second conveyor extending between a second inlet and a second outlet, the second inlet being positioned to receive the fish from the first outlet, such that the system defines a downstream transport path from the first inlet to the second outlet. [Background technology]
[0002] In fish processing, specific processes, such as head removal, gutting, or filleting, often require specific orientation and timing of the fish. However, fish are typically transported in large quantities. Thus, there is a need to periodically time and process large quantities of fish into a single file of well-oriented fish.
[0003] Typically, large quantities of fish are introduced onto a conveyor, causing an irregular flow of fish where the fish are randomly oriented, not periodically timed, and in some cases lying on top of each other. In some facilities, workers manually process the irregular flow of fish onto subsequent conveyors to achieve a single instance of periodically timed, well-oriented fish. Because labor can become even more scarce and therefore costly, there is a need to automate at least part of this process.
[0004] Machines exist for moving an irregular stream of food objects, such as fish, into a single instance of food objects that can be periodically timed and / or oriented.
[0005] To describe these operations, the following definitions are used herein: - singulation means the process of forming a single line of non-overlapping fish (not necessarily oriented or periodic); Periodic unification refers to the process of forming unified lines with substantially equal distances between fish (not necessarily oriented). Orientation refers to the orientation of the fish along the craniocaudal and / or dorsoventral directions. The orientation can be partial, i.e., craniocaudal or dorsoventral, or complete, i.e., craniocaudal and dorsoventral.
[0006] Substantially equal distances is understood to refer to similar distances so that the streams of fish can be efficiently processed by industrial machinery. The distances do not need to be exactly equal, as fish are not exactly the same size.
[0007] Thus, a longitudinally and laterally aligned, periodically timed single line flow of food product material is referred to as a periodically unified, perfectly oriented food product flow. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]
[0008] As with all industrial processes, there is always a desire to increase throughput, however, when industrially processing fragile food objects such as fish, high speeds do not always work optimally as the product is prone to damage.
[0009] Often the value of fish is reduced by rough handling that leaves marks or damages the fish.
[0010] While small and / or inexpensive fish are typically processed with an emphasis on speed over care, the balance between speed and care becomes particularly important when processing expensive fish species such as salmonids, including salmon, or similar relatively expensive fish species such as catfish, or even larger fish such as tuna or halibut.
[0011] Therefore, there is a need for an improved, stable, reliable, high throughput processing system for singulating and optionally orienting food objects such as fish. [Means for solving the problem]
[0012] In order to increase the speed at which vulnerable fish can be processed and to better protect the fish, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides in a first aspect a fish singulating system configured to convert an irregular flow of randomly oriented fish into a flow of single instances of fish of the type mentioned in the introduction, said system comprising first and second conveyors, the second conveyor defining a row of adjacent slots.
[0013] Additionally, the system includes a rejection structure positioned to reject at least one fish from a slot identified as containing multiple fish.
[0014] The system is equipped with a rejection structure so that fish can be rejected while they are secured in the slots of the second conveyor, allowing the system to perform singulation in two separate process steps: a step in which fish are received by the second conveyor, and a step in which fish are rejected from a selected slot if the slot contains multiple fish, preferably such that the selected slot contains at most a single fish after removal of excess fish.
[0015] As previously mentioned, the first singulation step separates fish from each other at the interface between the first and second conveyors, i.e., as the fish are delivered from the first conveyor to the slots of the second conveyor. As a result, each slot usually, but not always, contains only a single fish.
[0016] In a subsequent second step, the selected fish, and only the selected fish in slots identified as containing multiple fish, are rejected so that all slots contain at most a single fish. The word "reject" is understood to refer to removing fish from slots containing more than one fish. Thus, rejection does not indicate a defect in the quality of the fish, but rather indicates a modification of the flow of fish to achieve a singled sequence.
[0017] Because the first and second steps are decoupled, the first step of separating fish from each other can be done quickly, and potentially the second step of rejecting fish is only considered for a relatively small subgroup of fish, i.e., slots with multiple fish.
[0018] Potentially, this process could therefore be carried out more slowly and therefore more gently. Therefore, only the first step of separating the fish requires a high degree of care in terms of the balance between speed and care, which can be achieved by a slot design in the second conveyor that allows for gentle separation of the fish even at high processing speeds. In particular, it has been found that the fish are better protected when received in the individual slots, reducing the risk of injury in the later step of rejecting selected fish.
[0019] During operation, a large volume of fish may be received by the system through a hopper or chute that forms a funnel or initial storage until the fish slide from the first inlet towards the first outlet. At this stage, the fish are transported in an irregular stream of randomly oriented fish, which may partially overlap one another.
[0020] When the fish reach the interface between the first and second outlets, they are preferably received by a belt conveyor, one by one into a plurality of slots, which converts the irregular flow into a single file flow.
[0021] If a slot receives more than one fish, the singulation sensor identifies such a slot and the rejection structure removes at least the excess fish, and potentially all fish in that slot.
[0022] The first conveyor can be a belt conveyor or a slide conveyor, e.g. with rollers, or simply with a low-friction, inclined surface, e.g. made of stainless steel or plastic, along which the fish can slide. For example, it can form an elongated path from the first inlet to the first outlet, or it can form a curved path. The first conveyor can also have different sections using different conveying principles, e.g. a belt conveyor section and a slide section.
[0023] The second conveyor may define a conveyor belt, particularly an endless belt rotating between two drive pulleys. The conveyor belt may define an upper surface movable in the second conveying direction and a plurality of dividing structures extending upward from the upper surface to an upper edge, the upper edge extending in a longitudinal direction transverse to the second conveying direction to divide the conveyor belt surface into slots.
[0024] The dividing structure may extend upwardly from the upper surface and define an upper edge. The dividing structure may be a separate piece adhesively bonded and / or bolted to the conveyor belt, or the belt may be made integral with the dividing structure.
[0025] The upper edge of the dividing structure extends in a direction that, by definition herein, will be referred to as the "longitudinal direction", which may be transverse or potentially perpendicular to the second conveying direction in which the fish are conveyed by the second conveyor.
[0026] The dividing structure divides the conveyor belt surface into rows of adjacent slots, the purpose of which is preferably to accommodate only a single fish as it is transported from the second inlet to the second outlet.
[0027] The system may include a singulation sensor configured to identify a plurality of slots containing a plurality of fish. The rejection structure may particularly include a recirculation conveyor that returns the fish to a first conveyor, e.g., a first inlet, based on a signal from the singulation sensor.
[0028] In an alternative embodiment, the rejection structure may include a rejection arm extending transversely to the second conveying direction across the upper surface and positioned to interact with fish not fully contained in a slot. This may be achieved by shaping and sizing the slots for the type of fish intended for the system such that the presence of multiple slots necessarily prevents excess fish from being fully contained in the slots. In this case, an arm located near the upper edge may eject fish not fully contained in the slots.
[0029] Another alternative embodiment of the rejection structure may include a robot configured to remove a selected fish from a slot containing a plurality of fish.
[0030] The singulation sensor may, for example, comprise a camera and an associated visual detection computer system programmed to identify fish in the photograph. If more than one fish is detected, the singulation sensor defines a corresponding electronic singulation signal to the rejection structure, which may have powered actuation means responsive to the electronic singulation signal to direct the fish back onto the first conveyor if more than one fish is present in the slot.
[0031] The system may, for example, include a redirection structure positioned downstream of the interface between the first and second conveyors and configured to redirect selected fish. This may provide uniformly oriented fish by orienting all fish with their head and tail regions facing in the same direction. It is hereby understood that the term downstream is used in the usual way to indicate a later process event. Similarly, the term upstream is used to indicate an earlier process event.
[0032] The redirection structure may include a redirection sensor configured to identify the orientation of the fish, for example, by identifying a tail region of the fish as different from a head region of the fish. The redirection sensor may be positioned to identify the orientation of the fish when it is in the slot of the second conveyor.
[0033] The reorientation sensor defines an electrical orientation signal representing the orientation of the fish within the slot. In a simple embodiment, the orientation signal can simply be a digital signal of 1 or 0 depending on whether the head is to the left or right. Those skilled in the art will be able to think of other solutions.
[0034] The reorientation sensor may be comprised of a singulation sensor. A combined singulation and reorientation sensor may take the form of, for example, a camera equipped with suitable image recognition software to identify the number of fish in the slot and the orientation of the fish. In one embodiment, the output from such a combined singulation and reorientation sensor may be 0, 1, or 2, where 0 indicates multiple fish in the slot, 1 indicates a single fish with its head to the right, and 2 indicates a single fish with its head to the left.
[0035] The system may include a routing structure configured to route the fish from the second exit to a selected one of at least three conveyors based on a signal from the rejection structure or a signal from the redirection structure. The system may include a recirculation conveyor, a redirection conveyor, and a delivery conveyor.
[0036] In an example where the combined singulation and redirection sensor provides an output in the form of 0, 1, or 2, the corresponding action of the dispatch structure may be to dispatch the fish to a recirculation conveyor if 0, to a redirection conveyor if 1, or to a delivery conveyor if 2.
[0037] The dispatch structure may, for example, have a pivoting lid that is movable between three positions to allow the fish to be received by one of three conveyors.
[0038] The recirculating conveyor may direct the fish back to the first conveyor, which may form a chute, for example, towards the first conveyor. In this context, the chute is a low friction surface along which the fish can slide.
[0039] In order for the fish to function solely by sliding up the chute due to gravity, the second conveyor may extend upwardly from the boundary so that a major portion of the second conveyor is higher than the first conveyor relative to gravity, and a chute or basin may be located below said portion of the second conveyor that is higher than the first conveyor.
[0040] With this structure, fish delivered to the second outlet on the recirculating conveyor can simply slide toward the first conveyor and thereby be returned to the transport path. In another embodiment, the recirculating conveyor has a power-driven conveyor belt. In that case, the height of the first conveyor relative to the second conveyor is of little importance, as the recirculating structure can move the fish upward from the second conveyor to wherever they are dropped onto the first conveyor.
[0041] The redirecting conveyor may form a loop such that all fish are redirected, for example, from a head-to-right orientation to a head-to-left orientation, after which the redirecting conveyor can place the fish in a buffer or directly onto a takeaway conveyor.
[0042] In response to the orientation signal, the redirecting conveyor can receive the fish from the second outlet.
[0043] If the fish is already oriented in the intended direction, it can be moved directly to the buffer or by the removal conveyor to the removal conveyor.
[0044] In one embodiment, the system has a first buffer for fish to be reoriented and a separate second buffer for fish that are already in their intended orientation on the second conveyor and therefore will not be reoriented.
[0045] Any one or more of the buffers may include slots for individually storing multiple singulated fish, allowing for more continuous operation of the system.
[0046] Due to the above-described structure, the system can define three paths after the second exit: towards the first conveyor using a recirculation conveyor, towards a redirection conveyor, or directly towards a buffer or removal conveyor by a delivery conveyor.
[0047] The first outlet may terminate the first conveyor and define a longitudinal delivery edge extending along an adjacent one longitudinal side of the dividing structure such that the fish are delivered to one slot of the plurality of slots transverse to the longitudinal direction and transverse to the first conveying direction. During operation and movement of the conveyor belt of the second conveyor, the upper edges of the dividing structure may pass all of the delivery edges in an orientation in which they are parallel to the delivery edge.
[0048] The distance between the top edge and the delivery edge may in particular be less than the expected size of the fish so that the fish are unlikely to enter the gap between the top edge and the delivery edge. With this in mind, the distance from the top surface to the top edge may exceed the distance from the top edge of one adjacent one of the dividing structures to the delivery edge, and the first conveyor may define a lateral conveyor section that is non-perpendicular to the delivery edge.
[0049] The first conveyor may define a vertical conveyor section that is perpendicular to the delivery edge. This vertical conveyor section may particularly terminate the first conveyor, i.e., it may extend to the delivery edge, such that the fish are moved in a direction perpendicular to the delivery edge up to the point where they are delivered into the slot. This may provide for more accurate delivery of the fish to the slot.
[0050] At least one, and particularly multiple, deflectors may be positioned across the conveying path to deflect the fish as they move on the first conveyor. This may provide pre-orientation of the fish before they reach the boundary, thus ensuring more accurate delivery of the fish into the slot. Each deflector may extend, for example, from a first end, e.g., located at an edge of the first conveyor, to a free end located between the edges of the first conveyor. When a fish strikes such a deflector, its position changes, and depending on the angle of the deflector relative to the conveying path, the fish may generally be oriented longitudinally relative to the deflector, e.g., with the ventral or dorsal side of the fish sliding along the deflector.
[0051] The deflector may be a straight, elongated beam that extends from one side of the first conveyor towards the opposite side of the first conveyor, but does not reach the opposite side of the first conveyor, thereby allowing fish to pass through the deflector on that side.
[0052] The deflector may in particular have an oblique angle to the conveying path, meaning that its free end faces downstream in the conveying direction. The oblique angle may be from less than 90 degrees to the conveying direction, for example up to 10 degrees to the conveying direction.
[0053] The system may have, for example, two or three deflectors fixed as fixed pins or walls extending at different angles to the conveying path and offset relative to each other along the conveying path, further improving pre-orientation when the fish bounces between the deflectors and thus improving the ability of the slot to receive the fish.
[0054] In this regard, different angles of the deflectors relative to the conveying path can further improve the system, in particular one deflector can extend its free end downstream at an angle selected, for example, between 80 and 70 degrees, and another deflector can extend its free end downstream at an angle between 70 and 60 degrees.
[0055] In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for moving an irregular stream of arbitrarily oriented fish into a single instance stream of fish using a system as described in any preceding claim, each fish defining a longitudinal direction from a head region to a tail region, the method comprising delivering the fish to an adjacent one of the slots in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction and transverse to a conveying direction, and returning the fish to the first conveyor if the fish is rejected from the second conveyor.
[0056] The fish can be delivered to the slots in any orientation, and all fish with their tail regions oriented in the same direction can be rejected from the second conveyor before fish with their tail regions not oriented in that direction are rejected. [Brief explanation of the drawings]
[0057] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the embodiments, and are incorporated in and form a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments and, together with the description, explain the principles of the embodiments. Other embodiments and many of the intended advantages of the embodiments will be readily appreciated as they become better understood by reference to the following detailed description. Elements of the drawings are not necessarily to scale relative to each other. Like reference numerals indicate corresponding like parts.
[0058] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the system. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram particularly showing the second conveyor. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows the system as seen from the second exit. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 shows the system from above. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0059] The following description will generally refer to any of Figures 1-4, with reference to those figures that more particularly illustrate particular features. The illustrated system 1 is for processing fish, and in particular for a singulation process. The system has a first conveyor 2 extending between a first inlet 3 and a first outlet 4. A second conveyor 5 extends between a second inlet 6 and a second outlet 7. The second outlet is in an upper pulley 8, and fish are emptied from corresponding slots as the slots rotate around the upper pulley.
[0060] At the interface 20 (see Figure 2) the fish are transferred from the first conveyor to the second conveyor and at the second exit 7 the fish can follow three different paths depending on the signal from the singulation sensor 24. The three different paths can be particularly well understood by looking at Figure 4.
[0061] From a second outlet at the end of the second conveyor, the fish can follow three different paths, hereinafter referred to as a first path defined by the recirculating conveyor 30, a second path defined by the redirecting conveyor 13, and a third path defined by the delivery conveyor 42. The fish are dispatched between the three conveyors 13, 42, 30 by a pivoting lid that moves between three positions allowing the fish to be received by one of the three conveyors 13, 42, 30.
[0062] The first path directs the fish through a reject recirculation conveyor 30, see Figure 3. The disclosed recirculation conveyor is in the form of a chute, i.e., it defines a low friction surface along which the fish can slide.
[0063] The reject / recirculation conveyor 30 sends the fish back to the first entrance, thereby recirculating the fish. This path is followed when the singulation sensor 24 detects multiple fish in a single slot of the second conveyor. The path is caused by a structure referred to herein as the reject structure. The reject structure comprises means for moving the recirculation conveyor 30 relative to the second conveyor to a position where the contents of the slot can be emptied onto the recirculation conveyor 30 when the conveyor belt reaches the upper pulley. Thus, all fish contained in the slot are emptied onto the recirculation conveyor 30 and returned to the first entrance.
[0064] The second path, for example in the form of a chute (see FIG. 4), directs the fish to a first delivery point on the redirecting conveyor 13. This path is followed when a reorientation sensor, in this case constituted by the singulation sensor 24, detects a single fish in a single slot of the second conveyor, with its head and tail pointing in a particular direction, for example, head to the right. Said path is caused by a structure referred to herein as the redirecting structure. The redirecting structure comprises means for moving the redirecting conveyor 13 relative to the second conveyor to a position where the contents of the slot can be emptied onto the redirecting conveyor 13 when the conveyor belt reaches the upper pulley. Thus, all fish contained in the slot are emptied onto the redirecting conveyor 13.
[0065] The redirecting conveyor 13 performs a U-turn, thereby redirecting the fish and delivering them to a second delivery point in the first buffer 32 (see Figure 3).
[0066] The first buffer comprises a row of first buffer slots each capable of storing a single fish until removal and delivery onto the conveyor.
[0067] A third route directs the fish to a third delivery point, which is a location within the second buffer 33 (see Figures 3 and 4).
[0068] This path is followed when the reorientation sensor, still constituted by the singulation sensor 24, detects a single fish in a single slot of the second conveyor, with head and tail pointing in a particular direction, for example to the left. Said path is also caused by the reorientation structure, i.e. again by a pivoting lid that moves between three positions that allow the fish to be received by one of the three conveyors 13, 42, 30, whereby, depending on said orientation, the fish can be emptied onto the reorientation conveyor 13 or onto the delivery conveyor 42 (see Figure 4) or, depending on the number of fish in the slot, can be dispatched onto the recirculation conveyor 30.
[0069] The delivery conveyor is in the form of a chute, so that all fish contained in the slots are emptied onto the delivery conveyor 42 and slide into the second buffer.
[0070] The second buffer also includes slots referred to as "second buffer slots." Each of these slots can store a single fish until it is transported to a removal conveyor. In the embodiment of Figures 1-4, the system includes two removal conveyors, as best seen in Figures 3 and 4. The two removal conveyors 9 are on opposite sides of the first and second buffers, and each buffer can deliver to one or the other of the two removal conveyors.
[0071] In the embodiment of Figures 1-4, the system comprises two buffers, however a single buffer may also be implemented to receive fish from both the redirecting conveyor and the transfer conveyor.
[0072] The fish are received at the first inlet in the form of an irregular stream of randomly oriented fish and when the fish are delivered to the removal conveyor 9 or buffers 32, 33 they form a single stream of fish.
[0073] The first conveyor may be defined by a conveyor belt surface 10 driven by a motor via pulleys. However, it may also be constituted by a low-friction, stationary transport surface 10 along which the fish slide at a downward incline from the first inlet to the first outlet. The first conveyor thereby forms a chute with no moving parts.
[0074] With particular reference to Figure 4, the illustrated first conveyor is a combination of a conveyor belt surface 10 defined by two separate conveyors and a chute 10'. The first section of the first conveyor is constituted by a belt conveyor structure comprising two belt sections 2' and 2'', each having an endless belt moved by a pulley 40 and a motor 41. The second section of the first conveyor comprises a slide section 2''' which has a low-friction, stationary conveying surface along which the fish slide at a downward incline towards the interface 20. The first section is horizontal, while the second section slopes downward towards the interface and therefore towards the second conveyor. In the illustrated embodiment, the first outlet terminates the first conveyor and defines a longitudinal delivery edge 42 extending along an adjacent longitudinal direction of the dividing structure so that the fish are delivered to one of the plurality of slots in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction in the second section of the first conveyor and transverse to the first transport direction.
[0075] Deflectors 11, 12 are arranged along the first conveyor, each of these deflectors being constituted by a plate element extending across the conveying path so that fish sliding on the conveyor collide with the deflector and are deflected.
[0076] The deflectors shown are stationary relative to the transport path and offset relative to each other along the transport path. The angles of the deflectors relative to the transport path are indicated by α and β in Figure 4. In the illustrated embodiment, the angles are identical, but each angle is individual and may differ from the other angles. Figures 2, 3, and 4 show how the fish are primarily oriented in one direction after contact with the deflectors.
[0077] The second conveyor defines a slope of the conveying path from a relatively low point at the interface 20 between the first and second conveyors to a relatively high point at the end of the second conveyor. Thus, the second outlet is located at a higher level than the first inlet, which is located at a higher level than the first outlet. The first outlet and the second inlet are at the same height.
[0078] As best seen in Figure 2, the second conveyor comprises a conveyor belt having an upper surface that is movable in a second conveying direction indicated by arrow 22. Rows of adjacent slots 21 are defined by dividing structures 23 extending upwardly from the upper surface.
Claims
1. A system (1) configured to convert an irregular flow of arbitrarily oriented fish into a flow of single instances of fish, said system comprising: a first conveyor (2) extending between a first inlet (3) and a first outlet (4); a second conveyor (5) extending between a second inlet (6) and a second outlet (7); the first outlet and the second inlet define an interface (20) at which fish from an irregular stream of randomly oriented fish are received from the first conveyor by the second conveyor, thereby defining a downstream transport path from the first inlet to the second outlet; the second conveyor having a row of adjacent slots (21) configured to receive fish at the interface; the system includes a rejection structure arranged to reject at least one fish from a plurality of slots containing a plurality of fish; system.
2. the rejection structure has a singulation sensor (24) configured to detect the number of fish in each slot and generate an electronic singulation signal, the rejection structure being configured to remove at least one fish from the slot based on the electronic singulation signal; The system of claim 1 .
3. the rejection structure is configured to reject all fish within a slot identified as containing multiple fish; 3. A system according to claim 1 or 2.
4. a redirection structure configured to redirect selected fish to define a stream of uniformly oriented single instances of fish; 4. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
5. the reorientation structure having a reorientation sensor (24) configured to identify an orientation of a fish in one of the plurality of slots and generate an electrical orientation signal representative of the orientation, the reorientation structure configured to reorient a selected fish based on the electrical orientation signal; The system of claim 4.
6. The reorientation sensor (24) is constituted by the unified sensor (24). The system according to claims 2 and 5.
7. a dispatch structure configured to dispatch the fish from the second outlet to a selected one of at least three conveyors based on a signal from the rejection structure or a signal from the redirection structure, the three conveyors being a recirculation conveyor (30), a redirection conveyor (13), and a delivery conveyor (42); 7. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 6.
8. the dispatch structure has a pivoting lid movable between three positions to allow fish to be received by one of the three conveyors 13, 42, 30; The system of claim 7.
9. the redirecting conveyor (13) forms a first delivery point at which fish are received from the second outlet, the redirecting conveyor (13) being configured to redirect the fish as they are transported on the redirecting conveyor between the first and second delivery points.
9. A system according to claim 7 or 8.
10. a first buffer having a plurality of first buffer slots for storing fish separated from one another, the second delivery point being in one of the first buffer slots; The system of claim 9.
11. the delivery conveyor (42) is configured to receive the fish from the second outlet and deliver the fish to a third delivery point; A system according to any one of claims 7 to 10.
12. a second buffer having a plurality of second buffer slots for storing fish separated from one another, the third delivery point being in one of the second buffer slots; The system of claim 11.
13. each of the first buffer and the second buffer configured to deliver fish to at least one removal conveyor; 13. A system according to claim 10 or 12.
14. 14. A method of moving an irregular stream of arbitrarily oriented fish into a single instance stream of fish using the system of any of claims 1 to 13, each fish defining a longitudinal direction from a head region to a tail region, the method comprising: delivering the fish to an adjacent one of the plurality of slots; and, if the slot contains multiple fish, returning the fish from the slot to the first conveyor. method.
15. the fish are directed from the second outlet to one of at least three conveyors; 15. The method of claim 14.