Blue economy and aquatic resources research group

Research classification (Frascati)
Other natural sciences 1.7
Head of the research group
Doctoral students
Keyword
environment and social economy
the innovation of water’s biological resources
consumers and products of blue economy
safety and quality of water’s biological resources
Overview
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.
Important results
Consumer studies were conducted on prototypesof new developed products in order to evaluateif products meet the needs of young consumers.All the prototypes of new products evaluated inthe consumer survey received high grades and,according to the consumers’ opinions are tastyand well-suited for school lunches. Research forreducing salt content of the fish products andfinding applications for seaweed and mussels isbeing continued.Decades of policy initiatives to reduce external(land-based and atmospheric) nutrient loadshave so far failed to control Baltic Sea eutrophication, which is compounded by significantinternal release of legacy phosphorus (P) and biological nitrogen (N) fixation. Adjunct Professor J.Kotta demonstrated that farming and harvesting of the native mussel species (Mytilus edulis/trossulus) is a promising internal measure foreutrophication control in the brackish Baltic Sea.
Period of activity of the research group
Related department
Publications related to the research group