An ocean of opportunities
The trainees spent the first day at SIVA Innovation Centre in Norinnova`s premises where members of the cluster Biotech North presented their work. New opportunities from the sea were on the agenda, and they described how they worked to get to 100 % exploitation of marine raw materials.
For example, most of our medicines derives from organisms found above sea-level. However, there are many unexplored opportunities in the sea when it comes to ingredients in medicine and new products.
Cold adaptive organisms which have adapted to the cold have other characteristics and could be useful in other ways than the organisms found in warmer climate.
Among others, the group got to hear about sea-originated ingredients which could be used to help people with diabetes type 2 or high blood pressure. It was fascinating to learn that residual raw material from shrimp shells is being used to make different health products.
Cod facility
On Thursday, the trainees got an overview of potential species which could be used for farming. While it is very demanding to develop a new industry for new species (it may take up to 30 years), there are many possible options for the future. For example, cod farming was mentioned as a potential industry.
Following that, the group visited the unique Norwegian cod breeding program at Kraknes, which is owned and managed by Nofima and the University of Tromsø.
Next to it, Akvaplan-Niva are building a new state-of-the-art research facility, which the trainees got a preview of. At Kraknes we got to see, not only cod in different sizes, but also lumpfish and spotted wolffish.
Many possibilities
This was just some of the highlights from Seafood Trainee module 2. To sum up, there are a lot of potential ways to use resources from the sea, and there are a lot of ongoing work on how to explore and exploit more of it in Arctic region in the north of Norway.
To round off the module the trainees spent a day with the Norwegian Seafood Council, gaining insight on how NSC work in the global markets for Norwegian seafood.
Apply for Seafood Trainee now!
By the way, if Seafood Trainee sounds interesting, there is an opportunity now for students finishing a degree next semester to apply. Check out the application here!