Aquaculture waste utilization: bio-actives from farmed salmon and cod

Aquaculture continues to grow at an unprecedented rate of 8.8% per year since the early 1970's and this comes at a time when the harvest of wild-caught fish has leveled off due to global concerns about over-fishing. It is now clear that the growing market demand created in the world's seafood supply will have to be met by aquaculture. Despite the potential for growth, there is continued pressure from regulators to limit expansion based upon public concern over environmental concerns as well as spread of disease from farmed species to wild species. In addition, there is a public perception that the farmed species are fed growth-promoting and antibacterial chemicals that could become part of the food supply. One problem with the aquaculture fishery is the potential impact of processing waste on the environment. Much of this waste is converted into fish meal, silage or fertilizers yielding very low returns on investment in the necessary facilities to produce these by-products. However, it is now known that certain fish proteins recoverable from processing waste possess potential human health benefits. Dr. Marette and his team of researchers at Laval University have been able to link the presence of high levels of dietary fish protein (to date cod and Atlantic salmon) with a marked increase in insulin sensitivity in high fat-fed (obese) rats and humans. This is significant insofar as type 2 diabetes is related to obesity and has known to affect nearly 2 million Canadians. The thrust of this research project is to use edible aquaculture processing waste to produce metabolically bioactive peptides and to develop a new "nutraceutical" approach to the treatment of type 2 diabetes in humans. The commercial opportunity will be to use the bio-active nutraceuticals from farmed cod and Atlantic salmon to enhance insulin sensitivity in individuals prone to Type 2 diabetes. At the same time, the utilization of aquaculture discards for nutraceutical production could divert waste materials into production of more profitable end-products.