Category: News

Genetically modified foods have been the subject of considerable debate in recent years, and not everyone agrees on their effects. There has been a debate of two kinds, on the one hand about whether food can have a detrimental effect on human health and, on the other hand, what effect the cultivation of genetically modified crops has on the environment and the ecosystem as a whole. This debate has also reached the aquaculture industry, where some are concerned about the potential impact of farmed fish on wild stocks.

Recently, a multinational European project was launched with the aim of gathering information on the potential genetic effects of aquaculture. This information will then be disseminated to stakeholders, the government and the public.

The project is called  Genimpact  but its formal name is Evaluation of genetic impact of aquaculture activities on native populations - A European network and it's dr. Terje Svåsand from the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research leading the project. Among those who are members of the project is Guðrún Marteinsdóttir, professor of fisheries at the Institute of Biology at the University of Iceland.

Dr. Þorleifur Ágústson, fish physiologist at IFL, will take part in this project and he will take part in projects 1 and 2, which are on the one hand the effect of aquaculture on the fish genome and on the other hand the development of measurement technology to assess genetic contamination in nature.

A joint presentation meeting between IFL, Hólar University and Fisk Seafood on the development of research and development activities at the Verin Development Center in Sauðárkrókur will be held next Thursday 5 January at 16: 00-18: 00 in Verin, research and teaching building at Hólar University in Sauðárkrókur.

In recent years, IFL has placed great emphasis on strengthening its research in rural areas. IFL has thus had a growing collaboration on research with FISK Seafood in Skagafjörður and Hólar University on the processing of marine catch, food processing and aquaculture. Hólaskóli and FISK Seafood have in recent years formed a close connection between the strengthening of knowledge in aquaculture and fish biology with the introduction of beautiful housing for such activities in Sauðárkrókur.

It is now planned to further strengthen this co-operation through a special co-operation agreement on research and development in the field of aquaculture, natural sciences and food processing. In addition to IFL, Hólar University and Fisk Seafood, it is expected that the University of Iceland and the University of Akureyri will be parties to this agreement, as well as other partners. The purpose of the agreement is to place special emphasis on the development, operation and utilization of the Hólar School Development Center, which is located at Háeyri 1 by the harbor in Sauðárkrókur.  

The collaboration will be in the form of defined projects and will be attended by specialists and postgraduate students. Both the Minister of Fisheries and Industry have decided to strengthen the collaboration with a special financial contribution to the Fisheries Research Institute amounting to 6 m.kr. in a year. The funds will be used to strengthen IFL's research in Sauðárkrókur. The collaboration and this new agreement will be part of strengthening the operation and development of research and teaching at the Department of Aquaculture and Fish Biology at Hólar University. The new facility creates opportunities for even further development of the co-operation between the parties identified in the furnace. It is in their common interest to share the facility to strengthen their specific activities and thus contribute, among other things, to increased knowledge activities in the countryside. Through the collaboration, the Fisheries Research Institute strengthens its facilities and opportunities for aquaculture and food research and research on the processing of marine products.

Increased knowledge is a key factor in ensuring the development and profitability of the fisheries and aquaculture industry in Iceland. The successful development of this industry is obviously important to the country's settlements. The AVS Research Fund, which operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Fisheries, supports it by providing grants for projects that address all aspects of fisheries and aquaculture. The AVS Research Fund's grants are for applied research and are intended for individuals, companies, research, development and university institutions.

Agenda of the meeting:

Address - Einar K. Guðfinnsson, Minister of Fisheries

2. AVS Research Fund - Friðrik Friðriksson

IFL in the North - Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir IFL

4. Co-operation between FISK hf. at schools and research institutes - Jón Eðvald Friðriksson, managing director

5. Aquaculture and research at Hólaskóli - Helgi Thorarensen, Hólaskóli

Feed and fire - Rannveig Björnsdóttir IFL and the University of Akureyri

7. Protein from seafood and water recycling in aquaculture - Ragnar Jóhannsson, IFL and Hólaskóli

8. Cooperation and development in Sauðárkrókur, Skúli Skúlason - Hólaskóli

Skúli Skúlason will chair the meeting

In business, time is often valuable and especially if you are handling a delicate product with a short shelf life, such as fresh fish. In an interesting project that has been worked on at IFL, in collaboration with Danmarks Fødevarforsikring, work was done to significantly shorten the time that elapses until the results of microbiological measurements of marine products are available.

This is said on website Of the ACP Fund. A new technology called "Real-Time PCR" offers a much shorter response time than previously possible, in addition to the fact that with "RT-PCR" a similar method is being applied to all types of bacteria and therefore there is great potential for automatic generation. diagnostic equipment.

In 2005, the project called Rapid microbial measurements and is Eyjólfur Reynisson its project manager. The project is funded by the AVS, Norfa and Leonardo da Vinci funds, as well as IFL. 

It is worth mentioning that an article by Eyjólf and his colleagues was recently published in the scientific journal Journal of Microbiological Methods.  Read the article

As mentioned earlier, the project was funded by IFL, AVS, Norfa, the Leonardo project, Danish Agri Business, the EU project Food-PCR 2, MedVetNet and the CampyFood project of the Nordic Innovation Fund.

The December issue of the magazine Ægir contains an article about research carried out at IFL on a comparison of the shelf life of farmed cod on the one hand and wild cod on the other. As previously stated, the results have attracted a great deal of attention.

The authors of the article in question in Ægi are two experts at IFL, Soffía Vala Tryggvadóttir and Héléne Liette Lauzon. This study is part of a large research project that began in 2003 and is called Future cod.

Two reports have been published in the project, the first, Future cod: Quality assessment of farmed cod (No. 10-04) was published in October 2004 and the latter, Future cod: shelf life, texture, muscle building and processing of farmed cod (no. 26-05) and the one on which the article in Ægir is based, was published in November 2005. The reports can be viewed by clicking here.

Read an article in Ægi