Elements and Performance Criteria

The range of variables places the competency in context and allows for differences between enterprises and workplaces, including practices, knowledge and requirements. The range of variables also provides a focus for assessment and relates to the unit as a whole. The following variables may be present.

Regulations:
· AQIS Export Control (Fish) Orders
· State and Territory food regulations
· enterprise Occupational Health and Safety standards
· enterprise food safety program
· enterprise quality system
· enterprise procedures.

Occupational Health and Safety standards may include:
· codes of practice, regulations and/or guidance notes which may apply in a jurisdiction
· enterprise-specific occupational and health and safety procedures, policies or standards.

Personal protective equipment (PPE):
· waterproof clothing
· work safety or waterproof footwear
· protective hand covering
· protective hair or beard cover.

Customer specifications:
· head removed or attached
· head, gut, fins removed or attached
· kidney removed
· swim bladder removed
· roe retained for sale.

Equipment:
· scaling knife
· hand held scalers
· scaling machine
· knife
· fat suction tools and equipment
· fish cleaning troughs
· fish tubs and bins
· bandsaw
· gutting machines.

Productivity:
Scaling and gutting rates.

Each unit of competency has an evidence guide that relates directly to the performance criteria and the range of variables. Its purpose is to guide assessment of the unit in the workplace and/or training program. The following components provide information to assist this purpose.

Underpinning knowledge
The essential knowledge and understanding a person needs to perform work to the required standards include:
· hygienic handling, storage and display of fish
· personal, workplace and product hygiene
· enterprise Occupational Health and Safety standards in regard to cleaning fish.

Practical skills
The essential skills a person needs to perform work to the required standards include:
· cleaning and maintaining a clean workplace and work tools
· safe use of knives and bandsaw
· species identification
· safe handling and sorting of fish
· knife sharpening
· reporting problems orally to supervisor.
· Literacy skills used for:
· reading and following enterprise Occupational Health and Safety requirements
· reading and applying outline of specifications
· reading and following quality procedures.

Numeracy skills used for:
· weighing fish.
· adding and subtracting
· counting accurately.

Critical aspects of competence
Assessment must confirm the ability to:
· produce cleaned fish within enterprise productivity and food requirements that conform to State/Territories' food regulations and customer's specifications.

Assessment must confirm visual identification of:
· key parts of a fish-gills, guts, gonads and kidney
· degree of fish freshness and spoilage pattern for the species
· common fish defects, diseases and parasites.

Interdependent assessment of units
This unit is to be assessed after/with:
· No recommendations.

Context of assessment
· Assessment is to be conducted at the workplace or in a simulated work environment.
· To ensure consistency and level of performance it is suggested that a minimum of 12 fish including, flat and round fish are cleaned.

Method of assessment
The following assessment method is suggested:
· observation of practical demonstration.

Resources required for assessment
Resources may include:
· a range of knives, cleaning and cutting tools appropriate to the purpose
· fish to be cleaned
· fish cleaning tubs, clean fish tubs and running cold potable water
· scales
· Australian Seafood: an identification guide to domestic species, CSIRO.