Category: News

On the 14th-16th October, all 43 participants of the European project met Natalie in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria to discuss the progress of the project in the first year and the next steps. The participants also had the opportunity to meet in person, many of them for the first time. The project brings together 43 companies and organizations from across Europe with the aim of developing nature-based solutions that increase the resilience of regions against the effects of climate change. The project lasts for five years and is funded by the Horizon program of the European Union.

Around 100 people participated in the meeting and representatives of most of the partners were present, along with stakeholders in the region and other stakeholders. The discussions at the meeting included the following:

Status of the project after the first year

The project involves many participants in different countries where the needs are diverse. Reviewing the situation together gave them the opportunity to gain an insight into what is going on elsewhere in Europe. Each research area updated partners on what had gone well and what the main challenges had been over the past year. 

Preparing for the next workshop

An important aspect of the project is to connect with stakeholders in the area, and four workshops are held for this purpose. The first one has already taken place, but the meeting discussed how it would be most efficient to hold the next one.

Next steps

At the end of the meeting, the participants had the opportunity to sit down and plan the next steps. In such an extensive project, there are many aspects that need to be looked at, so it is important that everyone is on the same page.

In addition, a field visit was made to one of the research areas, where the participants got a good idea of the real impact of implementing a nature-based solution on the local environment. After long, but successful meeting days, Matís' representatives enter the next year of the project full of anticipation.

About the project

Natalie's project concerns the development of nature-based solutions that increase the resilience of regions against climate change. Austurland was chosen as the seventh research area (CS7) of the project and the participants in CS7 are Matís, Austurbrú, University of Tromsø and University of Exeter. More information can be found at project website.

Natalie Leaflet (PDF)

An international conference on neoproteins for food and feed will be held in Berlin on the 3rd-5th. next december Matís is one of the organizers of the conference, which is an important forum where ways are sought to promote sustainable agricultural practices and food systems, which covers production and consumption, in a holistic way and integrates innovation and environmental protection.

Food and feed systems around the world face the challenges of ensuring food security and nutrition for all the world's population, while at the same time needing to secure the livelihoods of farmers and other stakeholders in the food chain and maintain a sustainable environment.

Alternative proteins such as insects, mushrooms, algae and microbes fill the gap of sustainable, nutritious and safe food in the future.

The conference will discuss sustainable neoproteins and explore how they can transform existing food systems. The focus is on safety and nutrition, as well as consumer perception and economic fundamentals.

As mentioned earlier, the conference will take place in Berlin on the 3rd-5th. December 2024, but the conference can also be attended online, so you can participate wherever you are.

The organizers of the conference are:

• German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung, BfR)
• European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
• US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Singapore Food Agency (SFA)
• Matís ohf.

More information and registration can be found here.

Matís and RISE from Sweden will bring together experts in the field of bioeconomy in a workshop called "BIO2REG expert workshop on research infrastructure and living labs" on September 5th and 6th next in Matís' house in Reykjavík.  

In the workshop, projects related to bioeconomies, the development of the last decades and the importance of green energy will be reviewed. National and foreign experts will speak, as well as field visits to selected companies in the capital area and the surrounding area. 

The workshop is open to everyone and free of charge.

A registration link along with further information and program drafts can be found here:

The research & networking project Nordic Seals, or "Nordic network on seal populations in the North Atlantic and adjacent waters", led by Matís, recently came to an end. The project was supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers' working group on Nordic cooperation in fisheries and aquaculture AG fisk.The main goal of the project was to establish a network of stakeholders involved in research on seal populations, and those affected by seals in the area. Thereby facilitating and promoting an active conversation between key stakeholders regarding the distribution and socio-economic impacts of seals on the environment and communities in the North Atlantic, including on fisheries and aquaculture.

Seal hunting was an important industry in many parts of the Nordic countries for centuries, as sealers from Norway, Finland, Greenland, Denmark, Iceland, Russia, and Canada hunted hundreds of thousands of seals every year. This industry came under severe criticism in the 1970s and 1980s, when animal welfare began to take a bigger place in the discussion about the exploitation of wild animals. By the turn of the century, seal hunting had become politically unacceptable, which affected the markets for the products and led to the eventual end of commercial seal hunting. Seal hunting in the N-Atlantic has now been almost non-existent for over two decades. But what effect has this change in the exploitation of seal populations had on the ecosystems and the socio-economic landscape of those affected by changes in the size and distribution of seal populations?

Since the Nordic Seals network was established in 2021, it has collected, analysed and shared information about seal populations in the Nordic regions, and their impact on the ecosystem and human society, for example by:

• collecting information on seal populations and their distribution in the N-Atlantic, Arctic and adjacent water (e.g. North Sea, Baltic Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat, etc.),
• analysing the possible impact of seal populations on the ecosystem, and studying ongoing initiatives to quantify and assess those impacts,
• analysing the effects of seal populations on the Nordic fishing industry,
• studying available alternatives to control seal populations, including sustainable utilisation,
• identifying and exploring potential products and markets for seal products, while considering barriers such as animal welfare, policy and political correctness, food safety and toxins.

The main results of the aforementioned work can now be seen in the recently published report, which can be accessed here.

Other important products of the project are the following:

• launcing and maintaining a project webpage on the progress and results of the project
• facilitation of a Workshop held on April 29, 2021.
• Presentation held at the scientific meeting of European fishmeal and fish oil producers (EFFOP) in Skagen, Denmark, 1-2 June 2022.
• Presentation at a NAMMCO conference in the Faroe Islands 5-6 October 2022
• presentation to the board of the Pelagic Fish Forum (PFF) in Barcelona on October 22, 2024.
• Providing feedback to the European Union's open consultation process on the revision of the trade ban on seal products.
• The aforementioned report on seal populations in the N-Atlantic and final report to AG fish

In the abstract of the final report of the project it is stated that:

As several seal populations have grown in the North Atlantic, Arctic, and adjacent waters, they have become a controversial topic with fishermen and other stakeholders within seafood value chains who claim that they negatively affect commercial fish stocks, catch, product quality and economic viability of the fisheries. Many scientists and conservationists have on the other hand pointed out the lack of understanding of the functioning of seals in the ecosystem. Although seals are known to feed on commercial fish species, research on their effect on fish size and age distribution of prey populations, as well as stock size, is incomplete. More knowledge on the role and effects of seals in the ecosystem is therefore needed. As some seal populations still suffer from hunting that took place in the past, decisions on seal management must be well founded. Bycatch of seals is today the main threat to seal populations in many areas, which must be taken seriously.

Depredations and damage to fishing gear and fish farms caused by some species of seals is well documented. The exact ecological and economic impact of these is however largely unknown. There are ongoing initiatives that aim to fill in these knowledge gaps, but results are largely lacking. The issue of nematode roundworms that are parasites causing quality defects in commercial fisheries, which seals play a major role in distributing as hosts, has been a concern for fishermen. Controlling seal populations was in the past believed to be important to limit nematode distribution and therefore considered vital to safeguard the economic viability of the seafood industries in the North Atlantic.

Research show that the seal species in the N-Atlantic and adjacent waters need to eat a biomass corresponding to 4-6% of their body weight per day to sustain themselves. The number of seals in the area has now reached about 14 million individuals, and therefore it is likely that their consumption of biomass is about three times that of human fisheries in the area. But as mentioned before, knowledge of the effects of seals on the ecosystem and commercial fish species is incomplete.

Seals have a long history as an important food source. Seal meat is nutritious and full of important amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. But they also contain food safety threats, such as nematode ringworm parasites, and bioaccumulated trace elements. The import bans on seal products imposed by the US and EU have made any kind of trade in seal products difficult. But as some seal populations grow in certain areas, the question on potential utilisation becomes more pressing. To answer that question there is a need for more research to better understand the role of seals in the ecosystem, and on how to produce sustainable, safe and stable food or feed ingredients from seals.

The SEAFOODTURE project kick-off meeting took place on May 13, 2024 at the Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL) in Madrid, Spain. The project aims to use macroalgae biomass for the development of sustainable, high-quality food. The project is funded by the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP).

There were 10 partners from 8 countries who attended the kick-off meeting of the project which took place on 13 May 2024 at the Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL) in Madrid, Spain.

This is a three-year project that includes 9 work packages in which the following partners participate:

• Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain
• Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC), Spain
• Tarsus Üniversitesi (Tarsus), Turkey
• Porto-Muiños, Spain
• Sapienza Università di Roma (Sapienza), Italy
• Universidade de Aveiro (UA), Portugal
• Innovate Food Technology LTD. T/A Innovate Solutions, Ireland
• Matís, Iceland
• SINTEF Ocean, Norway
• Thang / Tartu Ülikool (Tartu), Estonia

The project's project page is accessible here.

The website of the project can be found here.

Next Friday, on May 31, Matís' seminar on the future of food production will take place. The seminar is entitled "What's for dinner?" and runs from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm in Harpa's Norðurløsasal.

There, the latest in the field of food research will be in focus, along with challenges and opportunities in food production in the future. Among the speakers will be Bente Torstensen, director of NOFIMA (food research in Norway), Dirk Carrez, director of the Biobased Industries Consortium and Ólavur Gregersen from Ocean Rainforest, the latter being a Faroese pioneer in the use of algae in food, feed and packaging. He has set up a massive algae factory and is a world leader in research and development on the utilization of seaweed. This activity has attracted a lot of attention around the world, as this industry could play a key role in replacing traditional plastic packaging with biodegradable plastic and also in contributing to increased food safety worldwide.

Matís' experts will also present their research, for example in relation to side products in vegetable farming, the development of Icelanders' fish consumption, fresh protein, food systems in cities to name a few. Then representatives from, among others, SFS, the farmers' association and the University of Iceland will sit on a panel and answer questions about the impact of food research on the food industry and society.

Bjarkey Olsen Gunnarsdóttir, Minister of Food, will open the forum and the moderator will be Bergur Ebbi. Below is the agenda of the seminar and the registration link. Those who register here will also be sent a link to the stream, but the forum will also be streamed on Visir.is.

The forum's Facebook page

Recordings, speakers' slides and photos from the seminar are available here:

What will be for dinner? Matís' seminar on the future of food production