Andrzej DOWGIAŁŁO
Sea Fisheries Institute, Kołłątaja 1, 81-332 Gdynia, Poland

Key words: small fish, sprat, processing.

Abstract.
This paper presents the comparative analyses of two methods of sprat processing in order to obtain deheaded and gutted fish. One method is traditional and applies two cuts to dehead and gut, and the other is a new method, thus far not used in sprat processing, based on one cut deheading and gutting. The analyses revealed that the proposed processing with one cut is much better with respect to effectiveness and ease of mechanization and the yield, even though lower than when using the other method, may reach 50% if the fish are sorted according to size groups.