The Verschuren centre for sustainability in energy and the environment

Published purpose

The aquaculture and fishery industries represent a major economic sector in Canada. However, these industries generate significant amounts of waste and by-products that pose risks to health and the environment. This collaborative research Project targets the development of an innovative process for the transformation of waste streams into value-added products, addressing pressing needs from aquaculture and fishery industries. This objective will be achieved through isolation, purification and characterization of cold-adapted proteolytic enzymes from the viscera (digestive tract and internal organs) of cold-adapted fish species as an alternative to mesophilic or thermophilic enzymes and further exploiting them to produce value-added nutraceutical and functional food/feed ingredients (bioactive peptides, lipids and glycosaminoglycans). The application of cold-adapted enzymes from fish waste for the production of value-added biomolecules supports both environmental and economic points of view by recycling and upgrading fish waste and reducing its organic contaminant load and offering substantial energy savings.