Sinimajanduse ja veeressursside uurimisrühm viib läbi rannikupiirkondade ja veekeskkonna tootmistehnoloogiate ja tooraine väärindamise arendustegevusi. Teadustöö eesmärk on leida võimalused jätkusuutlikuks veekeskkonna rakendamiseks, kus arvestatakse ökoloogiliste tingimustega ning prognoositakse inimtegevusest tulenevad ohud ja riskid. Veeressursside optimaalseks väärindamiseks analüüsitakse nende bioloogilisi, keemilisi ja füüsikalisi omadusi ning kirjeldatakse funktsionaalsed omadused. Veeressursside toorainete (kalad, vetikad ja karbid) väärindamiseks eksperimenteeritakse erinevate tehnoloogilistega protsessidega. Sinimajanduse majanduslikke ja sotsiaalmajanduslikke võimalusi analüüsitakse ja mudeldatakse arvestades ELi strateegiad, kehtivat seadusandlust ning tarbijate teadlikkust ja ootuseid kaardistades.
Estonia is a seaside country, but our skills havingto do with resources found in sea and in freshwater, such as fish, seaweed, and mussels, aremodest. Fish, seaweed, and mussels, that growin sea and in freshwater, have high nutritionalvalue, but technologies of growing, collectingand processing them need developing. The aimof the research is to develop new value-addedproducts from less popular fish species, whichwould suit the needs and preferences of youngconsumers in particular. Different less popularfish species are caught from inland bodies ofwater and in coastal fishing. Now these lesspopular fish species are not possible to marketor are marketed at a very low price-point. Developing products form less popular fish species,seaweed, and mussels which are not yet used isimportant for enterprises, environment and forcoastal municipalities. Composition and properties of less popular fish species, seaweed andmussels are not yet known. Every product startswith raw materials and the quality of these rawmaterials is extremely important. When it comesto fish, seaweed and mussels, the right storagetemperature and processing methods are themost important factors which help to ensure theproducts’ safety and quality.