Live Fish Packaging Machines | High-Efficiency Solutions

Live fish packaging is a specialized segment where packaging directly determines animal welfare outcomes—a machine failure means fish mortality. ECHO Machinery's live fish packaging equipment is engineered for this high-stakes application with an emphasis on seal reliability and environmental durability. The packaging process sequence is: bag is positioned at the filling station, water and fish are introduced (typically manually for ornamental species, automated for aquaculture), the bag moves to the sealing station where an oxygen lance descends into the headspace, pure oxygen is injected to create the transport atmosphere, the lance retracts, and the reinforced sealing bar closes to create the final seal. The oxygen injection is calibrated to create approximately 30-40% headspace volume of oxygen—sufficient for the transport duration based on the fish biomass and water volume. The sealing bar creates a wide seal (8-12mm) on thick PE film, with the dwell time and temperature optimized for the film thickness and the challenging condition of sealing film that may have water droplets near the seal area. For ornamental fish transport, where bags are typically double-bagged (an inner bag inverted inside an outer bag for puncture protection), the machine seals the outer bag. The stainless steel construction and IP66-rated electrical enclosures protect against the water exposure inevitable in live fish packing operations. For aquaculture operations, the machine can be integrated into a semi-automated line with counting and weighing stations upstream of the packaging station.