Japanese Ike Jime Method Offers Humane Way to Produce High-Quality Fish

The Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act would allow interested processors to use the technique in Maryland

Andrew Tsui, founder and president of the Ike Jime Federation, and Maryland DNR Secretary Josh Kurtz display a trout processed with ike jime. Photo by Winn Brewer, Maryland DNR.

A traditional Japanese method for processing fish may be expanding in Maryland.

The technique, known as ike jime, results in a high-quality fish product and is considered the most humane way of processing fish.

“With traditional practices here in Maryland, I think that there’s an opportunity to really help this state punch way above its weight in producing world-class seafood,” said Andrew Tsui, founder and president of the Ike Jime Federation, a national group that is based in Maryland. “And that begins with ensuring that you limit the experience of stress in the fish.”

Ike jime is practiced widely in Japan, where it was developed several centuries ago, and has been adopted around the world in recent years. The Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act, which the Maryland General Assembly is considering this year and is supported by the Department of Natural Resources, includes a provision that closes a gray area in current Maryland law to allow interested commercial anglers and fish processors in the state to use ike jime. Currently, only recreational fishermen can use the process in the state on their own catch.

The harvesting method is commercially permitted in other areas in the U.S., such as Rhode Island, where it’s establishing support among businesses and consumers. 

Stu Meltzer, the owner of Fearless Fish Market in Providence, said selling ike jime fish has helped him build up a strong customer base, both for wholesale buyers and visitors to his storefront. “The difference is very apparent,” Meltzer said of fish prepared with ike jime. “More than a few of our customers were like, ‘This stuff is incredible.’”

Unlike traditional handling practices that allow fish to die by passive suffocation, ike jime eliminates the stress associated with suffocation. With ike jime, the handler euthanizes the animal as quickly as possible by inserting a spike into the hindbrain of the live fish. Then, the fish is bled carefully, without injuring sellable muscle tissue, Tsui said. Though the fish’s muscles will move during ike jime and its heart will temporarily still beat, the fish is brain dead by the start of the process.

To delay the onset of rigor mortis, the handler runs a tool called a shinkei wire up and down the spinal column, rupturing the length of the spinal cord. When finished, the handler immediately submerges the fish into an ice slurry immediately to drop the core temperature of the fish, controlling the temperature until the fish reaches a kitchen.

These steps are meant to counteract the stress behaviors of caught fish. A suffocating fish will release stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, and build up lactic acid by using its muscles. Preventing the fish from going through this, as well as removing a source of bacterial infection by properly bleeding the fish, allows for both a better flavor and a significantly longer shelf life.

“Rather than being on the clock for when you start to have decomposition, the natural enzymes of the fish are allowed to take over and enhance the flavor of the fish,” said Meltzer, who was certified as a trainer with the Ike Jime Federation. “It’s remarkable.”

The bill would allow individuals licensed by DNR to use ike jime for direct sale to restaurants without a separate license, creating new economic opportunities for Maryland’s independent seafood producers. Tsui said ike jime could allow a wider scope of Maryland seafood to reach price points that Maryland producers may never have had access to in the past.

“Restauranteurs around the region, and especially those with coveted Michelin stars, are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to source this level of quality locally too,” Tsui said.

Maryland DNR Secretary Josh Kurtz said using ike jime could help increase the value of fish caught in the Chesapeake Bay and other Maryland waters.

“If we’re taking something out of the ecosystem, we want to ensure that it has maximum value—this process will allow us to receive maximum value for the species,” Secretary Kurtz said. “That will allow us to work with our watermen, with our anglers to ensure that we’re just maximizing all of the benefits of this species whenever we pull them out of the water.”