Category: News

IFL is advertising for two project managers to work in IFL's aquaculture department. One job is in Akureyri and the other in Ísafjörður. This is not the same job, as the emphasis is on the activities of IFL's aquaculture department in the aforementioned places.

IFL in Akureyri is working on projects related to feed and fish nutrition and the advertised job of project manager there will mainly involve overseeing the operation of projects, collaboration with companies, institutions, universities and individuals on projects.        

Further description of work in Akureyri

In Ísafjörður, IFL is building up strong activities in the field of aquaculture, especially cod farming, and there, among other things, work is being done on projects related to light control, physiology and the behavior of cod in aquaculture.          

Further description of work in Ísafjörður  

The application deadline for both positions is May 20, 2006. 

Rannveig Björnsdóttir, Head of the Aquaculture Department of the IFL Research Division, provides further information about the job:  rannveig@rf.is   895 2176

A report has been published on IFL entitled Freeze-drying of seafood: an exploration of possibilities, where the results of a development project carried out last year at IFL are published. The aim was to investigate the possibility of production and sale of lyophilized products from Icelandic seafood.

In June 2005, a new lyophilizer was installed, Genesis 25 SQ EL, at IFL, but it was bought, among other things, to explore the possibility of producing high-quality seafood products for use in all kinds of special diets, supplements and target foods.

Freeze-drying is a process in which water is removed from a frozen product by evaporation and underpressure. This method is superior to other drying methods in that it better preserves the taste, color, bioactivity and other properties of delicate products. Freeze-drying has mainly been used to preserve delicate products such as various berries, but the most well-known freeze-dried product is instant coffee.

Freeze-drying of delicate products such as fish proteins better preserves their properties. This is especially important in research and production of bioactive peptides, but research in this field is precisely one of IFL's focus areas. 

It was The AVS Fund who supported the project, but the authors of the report are Guðjón Gunnarsson, Irek Klonowski and Guðjón Þorkelsson. Project manager was Guðjón Þorkelsson, head of IFL's Processing and Development department (tel: 8604748)

The report Freeze-drying of seafood: an exploration of possibilities

IFL recently published two reports, which publish the results of experiments carried out at IFL 12-15 years ago, but have not been published before. The reason why they are being excavated now is that the results of these experiments are now being used in projects that are currently being worked on at IFL.

IFL has been conducting research on seafood for decades, and a great deal of knowledge has been accumulated in this field at the institute. More often than not, these studies are directly useful, i.e. practical research, but sometimes knowledge is created that is not useful until even a long time later.

As stated earlier, the experiments behind the aforementioned reports were carried out about 12-15 years ago, but their results have not been published before. Both reports are in English and the former is called Microbiological changes during storage of lumpfish caviar (IFL report 02-06) and the latter Microbiological changes during storage of salted cod fillets (IFL report 04-06).

The aforementioned report presents results in which the effects of sterilization, salinity, storage temperature and benzoate on the growth of various microbial groups in grayling roe caviar were examined. The latter report, however, presents the results of experiments in which salted cod fillets with a salinity of about 20% were stored at 5 ° C for 330 days and changes in microbial numbers and chemical indicators were monitored during the storage period.

The results are related to both product development projects on the utilization of capelin roe and several projects on the processing and processing of salted fish.

The 65th Fishing Forum will be held at the Radisson Hotel Saga in Reykjavík on Friday, April 7, 2006. It will start at 13:30 and it will end at 17. Fiskiþing is an open forum on issues related to the fishing industry. The theme of the session is "Fisheries and the environment". One speaker will be from Rf, Emilía Martinsdóttir, head of the Consumer and Safety Department at Rf's Research Division.

Today ended the two-day meeting of the board of SEAFOODplus - the giant project, which was held at Sjávarútvegshúsið. As is well known, IFL participates in SEAFOODplus and Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir, CEO of IFL, sits on the project board.

Sjöfn was the host of the board this time and she says that it was a traditional meeting of the board, but the board of SEAFOODplus meets three times a year to discuss the progress of the project.

Seafoodplus is in fact a synonym for a number of different projects that have the main goal of increasing the consumption of seafood, researching the effects of seafood on people's health and well-being, promoting increased safety of seafood and further processing of seafood.

A group of students from Bodö University in Norway visited the Fisheries House this afternoon, in order to get to know the activities of IFL and the Marine Research Institute. The visit is part of the group's packed agenda in this country.

The group, which as mentioned before, comes from Høgskolen i Bodø (HBO) in Norway, consists of 6 students and one teacher, Christel Solberg. This is the second year in a row that she brings students from HBO to Iceland and it is safe to say that they come from many places.

For the first two days, they visited companies and institutions in the North, incl. Samherji and Brim in Akureyri, Sæplast in Dalvík, Stofnfisk / Haliotis in Hauganes and the feed factory Laxá. Then they went out to Hrísey and visited Icelandic seafood. The Norwegians also visited the University of Akureyri and finally Hólaskóli before heading south across the moors.

This morning they visited Optimar and Marel and tomorrow this ride will end with visits to companies in Suðurnes.

IFL has, together with various partners, worked on a number of projects to increase the value of seafood in recent years. These include several projects to increase the utilization of proteins from by-products and pelagic fish for human consumption, both by developing new processing processes, new products and by exploring the market for health foods and target foods.

One of them is Propephealth within the SEAFOODplus European project managed by IFL. Its goals are:

• Screening, mapping and processing new health-enhancing substances from by-products of seafood or pelagic fish using advanced and gentle processing methods
• To develop new bioactive additives from seafood
• Using these ingredients to develop a new targeted diet

The forthcoming issue of the scientific journal Process Biochemistry presents the first results of a study on the effects of hydrolysed fish proteins on the growth of breast cancer cells. Hydrolyzed proteins, made from cod, coal, blue whiting and salmon, significantly reduced their growth.

These results are an indication of how these fish proteins can be further developed for use in health foods and as dietary supplements. There is still a long way to go. Scientific knowledge is not yet available on whether it will be possible to claim the health effects of these proteins on consumers in the future. This study is only the first step in a long way.

For further information contact Guðjón Þorkelsson: 860 4748 / gudjont@rf.is

As reported here on the web in November, IFL is participating in a major European project on fish welfare in aquaculture. Recently, the first meeting of the steering committee chaired by IFL was held in Brussels, and here you can read a summary of what was discussed there.

The COST 867 project "Welfare of Fish in European Aquaculture" deals, as the name implies, with the welfare of fish in aquaculture. In recent years, increasing emphasis has been placed on the welfare of animals, both domestic and non-domestic, including the ethical views of responsible consumers who care about the care and welfare of domestic animals, stricter requirements in regulations on domestic living conditions and rules on organic farming.

Welfare is a complex concept and there is no single definition of the welfare of farmed fish, as this has been little researched and there are no biological criteria for the welfare of farmed fish. It is debated whether fish can survive, but nonetheless, this debate has surfaced in connection with aquaculture and no less fishing. It is therefore important that common sense is taken into account and that the industry takes the initiative to launch the debate. Although there is a debate about how to define welfare, most people should be able to agree that a conflict between welfare considerations and the efficient operation of aquaculture companies should be avoided. There is a direct link between welfare, consumer confidence and quality in production.

The aim of the project is to bring together representatives of those who are related to fish welfare in some way. Participants are fish farmers, representatives of the administration and representatives of research institutes. It is expected that work will be done to formulate guidelines and rules of procedure for the welfare of farmed fish and to define measures of the welfare of farmed fish. An extensive publication will also be prepared where information on fish welfare will be compiled, which will be useful, among other things, in all policy-making in this field. In addition to discussing the welfare of farmed fish, the welfare of fish will also be addressed as experimental animals, ornamental fish and in connection with fishing. It is therefore important for Icelanders to have a representative in this group.

The project is divided into three working groups. They are:

1. Biology of fish important for welfare.
2. Measurable welfare in aquaculture.
3. Fish welfare and management.

Icelandic participants in the project and who sit on the project's steering committee are on behalf of IFL dr. Þorleifur Ágústsson (photo right) and dr. Helgi Thorarensen from Hólaskóli.

It should be noted that a special website for the project is being prepared and it will be prepared by the University Center of the Westfjords, in collaboration with IFL and the University of Stirling in Scotland.

COST website

Dr. Kristin Lauritzen, an expert at Fiskeriforskning in Tromsø, Norway, gave a lecture this morning on research into changes that occur in dried salted fish during storage and transport.

Kristin Lauritzen, who as mentioned earlier works for Fisheries research in Norway, is in this country as a "guest scientist" at IFL for a month. Her visit is mainly related to research on the effects of salted fish, but her doctoral dissertation focused on research on salted fish. It is worth mentioning that Kristín works in part on a large project that is being worked on at IFL and is called Process control for fishing, processing and processing of salted fish.

Norwegians, however, produce some salted fish, especially dried fish (Norwegian clipfish), and their most important markets are mainly in Brazil, the Dominican Republic and the islands by the Caribbean Sea. 15-20% of the value of exported seafood from here.The most important Icelandic markets are in Southern Europe.

About 30 people listened to Lauritzen's lecture this morning, mainly IFL staff, but there were also people from salted fish processing in this country.   

Slides from the lecture

This weekend, IFL advertised for hiring a project manager to work at Höfn in Hornafjörður. This is a new job that will be done in close connection with the activities of Frumkvöðlasetur Austurlands ehf.

The role of the project manager is to manage and work on projects on behalf of IFL. in Hornafjörður but they include:

• overseeing day-to-day operations, project acquisition and planning
• collaboration with companies and individuals on projects
• work on projects related to lobster fishing and processing
• mapping opportunities
• present projects and opportunities in the environment.

Applicants must have completed a master's degree in science or engineering. Applicants must have initiative and independence in working methods, good command of English and Icelandic and agility in human relations.

The planned activities will be based in the knowledge center New worlds Harbor in Hornafjörður. Nýheimar houses, among others, Fruman, Framhaldsskólinn í Austur-Skaftafellssýsla, Menningarmiðstöð Hornafjarðar, Háskólasetur Háskóli Íslands, Þjóðgarðurinn í Skaftafell, Þórbergssetur, Frumkvöðlafræðslan SES, og Fuglaathugunarstöð suðausturlands. Nýheimar is a new, specially designed building with an emphasis on implementing new thinking, technology and working methods in education, culture, development work and innovation, which will be useful in strengthening culture and the economy.

Applications with information about education and work experience, as well as recommendations are sent to the Fisheries Research Institute, Skúlagata 4, 101 Reykjavík.

Wages are in accordance with the wage agreement between the Minister of Finance and the relevant trade union.

The application deadline is March 31, 2006. It is desirable that the person in question can start work as soon as possible

For further information, please contact Sigurjón Arason, sigurjon@rf.is, phone 530 8600