Thanks to everyone who made AQUABIOPRO-FIT project such as great success!

The AQUABIOPRO-FIT consortium consisted of 12 partners from 7 European countries. The partners (3 universities, 1 large company, 3 SMEs, 1 NGO, and 4 research institutes) have been working together to create new ways to promote the efficient utilization of side streams from fisheries and aquaculture. The project focused on developing innovative tools and technologies to recover high-quality proteins, fish oil, minerals, bioactive ingredients, and tunicate products from European aquaculture and fisheries sidestreams.

The project partners presented the possibilities and challenges in the processing of aquaculture and marine side streams materials during the final conference held online on 13 and 14 December 2022.

The researchers presented various methods for valorizing aquaculture and fish side streams, including recovering nutrients from side streams, improving processing methods for tunicates, developing supplements, and the results of clinical trials. They also presented the results of environmental and social life cycle assessments (LCA), as well as economic life cycle costing (LCC) of using aquaculture and fisheries biomass residues and side streams.

Novel and sustainable extraction technologies have been developed and/or tested during the project including supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), and pulsed electric field (PEF). These technologies were used to extract healthy valuable compounds from aquaculture and marine by-products.

The effectiveness of the nutritional supplements made from fish-side streams has been assessed in clinical trials. The supplements were found to have a positive impact on human health, including suppression of inflammatory bowel diseases, improved athletic performance, reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression, and improved body pH balance, skin, and hair quality. Additionally, it was found that fish-derived supplements, particularly those containing fish collagen, may be useful in managing type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome by modifying the gut microbiome.

The production of tunicates for fish feed and food ingredients was also presented during the final conference. The potential use of tunicates in industrial applications is relatively unexplored but the AQUABIOPRO-FIT partners found promising results for using the tunicates in the fish feed and food industry.

The video recordings of the final conference will be available soon on the AQUABIOPRO-FIT website and Youtube channel.