Welcome to this short online course on the valorisation of aquaculture waste as a contribution to a circular economy.

Your tutors for this course are:

Units 1 & 3:

Xosé Antón Vázquez Álvarez

Tenured Scientist at the Marine Research Institute (IIM-CSIC) since 2009.

B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biochemistry (University of Salamanca, 1996), Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering (University of Santiago de Compostela, 2001), and B.Sc. in Environmental Science and Technology (University of Vigo, 2007). He leads the Group of Recycling and Valorization of Waste Materials (REVAL) and is currently Head of the Food Technology Department at IIM-CSIC. He works in the development, optimisation, and scaling of sustainable processes and bioprocesses –under biorefinery concept– directed to the valorisation of by-products, discards, and effluents generated by the fish food industry, including aquaculture and agrifood activities. He has been involved in more than 40 research projects (EU, National, and Regional) and R&D contracts (13 as PI). He is the author of 160 SCI-JCR articles (h-index: 41), 10 book chapters and has participated in more than 65 congresses and conferences.

Carmen González Sotelo

Scientific researcher at the Institute of Marine Research (CSIC), director of the Marine Research Institute (2011-2015).

Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Santiago de Compostela (1991).

Research topics:

• Development of species authentication methodologies based on the analysis of DNA
• Valorization of by-products of fishery industry (collagen and collagen peptides)

Research results:

• Principal investigator of 8 EU projects, coordinator in 3 of them. PI in 10 national research projects.
• Participation in a total of 26 national and international research projects.
• Author of more than 120 research papers in international journals and books.
• Invited lecturer at 21 international congresses and conferences and has participated with communications at a total of 40 Congresses and Conferences.

María Blanco Comesaña

Higher Technician in Technical and Professional Activities at the Marine Research Institute (IIM-CSIC) since 2009. B.Sc. in biology (University of Santiago de Compostela, 2001) and Ph.D. in Biology (University of Vigo, 2015). My work is focused on the study of the possibilities of valorisation of underused marine raw material, fish discards that cannot be used for direct human consumption, or fish by-products to find out bioactive compounds useful for different pharmaceutical, biomedical, or cosmeceutical applications contributing to create a sustainable and resilient fishery sector. Most recent publications deal with the analysis of differences in collagen structure of different species/raw materials to explore diverse applications of those collagens. I am an author of 17 SCI-JCR articles, 3 book chapters and have participated in more than 25 congresses and conferences. I have also been involved in more than 10 research projects.

Unit 2: Valorisation of aquaculture side streams

Christian Bruckner

Is a scientist at Salten Havbrukspark and a Product Development Manager in Polaralge AS; both in Gildeskål, Norway. He is a specialist in seaweed farming, algal product development, algae biochemistry, and algae-bacteria interactions.

He was previously a Scientist at the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Bodø, Norway, and a Scientist at the Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), Rostock, Germany.

Hallstein Baarset

Is CFO & Aquaculture Manager at Waister AS, Norway.

He has an MSc in industrial management (1994) from NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) and a BSc in microelectronics (1992) from TIH (Trondheim College of Engineering). His experience ranges through research and development, product development, sales and management within aquaculture, pulp and paper, engineering, training, and consulting.

Unit 4: Valorisation of shellfish industry wastes

Martiña Ferreira

Is a biologist and has a Ph.D. from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). She is a research officer and project manager in the aquaculture field at ANFACO-CECOPESCA. Some of the recent and current projects she has been involved in, deal with different aspects of aquaculture production and sustainability: oral vaccines and natural antiparasitic feed additives for rainbow trout, enhancement of opportunities for the industrial exploitation of microalgae, and more recently, bivalve culture and seaweed cultivation.

Leticia Regueiro Abelleira,

Head of the Sustainability and Circular Economy research line, R&D&I Area at ANFACO-CECOPESCA. Leticia is a Chemical Engineer, with a Ph.D. from the University of Santiago, specialising in residues/by-products valorisation, biorefinery processes, and water treatment processes. Leticia has been involved in several projects related to efficient waste and wastewater treatment, and by-products valorisation; such as LIFE STO3RE, NEPTUNUS, ALEHOOP, or GAIN. She has also published more than 20 papers and participated in more than 25 conferences.

Diego Méndez Paz

Has a Ph.D. in Chemistry and is currently a researcher in the Sustainability and Circular Economy Division at ANFACO.

He has more than 15 years of professional expertise in R&D; in residues and by-products valorisation, as well as in other biotechnological areas (enzymatic hydrolysis…). He has participated in more than 30 R&D projects and has published 10 papers.