Imagine finding a way to repurpose salmon heads in agricultural or cosmetic products or developing health-care solutions using proteins found in eels.
This kind of innovation is the focus of Western Research Chair and biology professor Raymond Thomas, who leads the $15.8-million Marine Biomass Innovation project. The initiative brings together Indigenous communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as industry partners and academics to reduce waste and fully utilize all products in Canada’s fishing industry.
Marine biomass includes primary material typically processed and sold, such as fish fillets as well as discarded parts like skins, shells, bones and heads. Up to 70 per cent of it often discarded as waste.
“We want to find components that will allow 100 per cent utilization of biomass and allow rural, remote, coastal and Indigenous communities to be hubs of innovation in Canada—all centred around a green, marine-based economy,” says Thomas.
