Problem statement: Spoilage of food products is due to chemical, enzymatic or microbial activities One-fourth of the worlds food supply and 30% of landed fish are lost through microbial activity alone. With the ever growing world population and the need to store and transport the food from one place to another where it is needed, food preservation becomes necessary in order to increase its shelf life and maintain its nutritional value, texture and flavor. The freshness and quality of fish have always gained the attention by Food Regulatory Agencies and Food Processing Industry. Proper handling, pretreatment and preservation techniques can improve the quality fish and fish products and increase their shelf life. Methodology: Historically salting, drying, smoking, fermentation and canning were the methods to prevent fish spoilage and extend its shelf life. In response to consumer demand for texture, appearance and taste, new methods were developed including: Cooling, freezing and chemical preservation. A comprehensive review of the literature on the subject of fish spoilage and modern preservation techniques was carried out. Conclusion: Fish spoilage results from three basic mechanisms: Enzymatic autolysis, oxidation, microbial growth. Low temperature storage and chemical techniques for controlling water activity, enzymatic, oxidative and microbial spoilage are the most common in the industry today. A process involving the addition of an EDTA (1 mM)-TBHQ (0.02%) combination and ascorbic acid and storage at refrigerated temperatures (5°C) in darkness can be the most positive for controlling the spoilage of fish and fish product. The suggested process would address antimicrobial activity as well as destructive oxidation of the desired lipids and fats. However, more efforts are required to understand the role of proximate composition of fish, post harvest history, environmental conditions, initial microbial load, type and nature of bacteria and their interaction in order to optimize the shelf-life of fish

Problem Statement:The research on the production of biodiesel has increased significantly in recent years because of the need for an alternative fuel which endows with biodegradability, low toxicity and renewability. Plant oils, animal fats, microalgal oils and waste products such as animal rendering, fish processing waste and cooking oils have been employed as feedstocks for biodiesel production. In order to design an economically and environmentally sustainable biodiesel production process, a proper understanding of the factors affecting the process and their relative importance is necessary. Approach: A comprehensive review of the literature on the subject of biodiesel production was carried out. Traditionally biodiesel has been produced using either acid or base catalysts. The multi-step purification of end products, wastewater treatment and energy demand of the conventional process has lead to search for alternative option for production of biodiesel. The use the enzyme lipase as a biocatalyst for the transesterification reaction step in biodiesel production has been extensively investigated. Lipase is produced by all living organisms and can be used intracellularly or extracellularly. Conclusion: To date, the most popular microbes used for their lipases have been filamentous fungi and recombinant bacteria. A summary of lipases used in transesterification and their optimum operating conditions is provided. In addition to the choice of lipase employed, factors which make the transesterification process feasible and ready for commercialization are: enzyme modification, the selection of feedstock and alcohol, use of common solvents, pretreatment of the lipase, alcohol to oil molar ratio, water activity/content and reaction temperature. Optimization of these parameters is necessary in order toreduce the cost of biodiesel production. Use of no/low cost waste materials as feedstocks will have double environmental benefits by reducing the environmental pollution potential of the wastes and producing an environmentally friendly fuel.

Sea cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa) is the most abundant and widely distributed species in the cold waters of North Atlantic Ocean. C. frondosa contains a wide range of bioactive compounds, mainly collagen, cerebrosides, glycosaminoglycan, chondroitin sulfate, saponins, phenols, and mucopolysaccharides, which demonstrate unique biological and pharmacological properties. In particular, the body wall of this marine invertebrate is the major edible part and contains most of the active constituents, mainly polysaccharides and collagen, which exhibit numerous biological activities, including anticancer, anti-hypertensive, anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, anti-coagulation, antimicrobial, antioxidation, and anti- osteoclastogenic properties. In particular, triterpene glycosides (frondoside A and other) are the most researched group of compounds due to their potential anticancer activity. This review summarizes the latest information on C. frondosa, mainly geographical distribution, landings specific to Canadian coastlines, processing, commercial products, trade market, bioactive compounds, and potential health benefits in the context of functional foods and nutraceuticals.

The current disposal of fish processing waste is causing environmental problems that have become an issue of public concern. Fish waste could be utilized for production of animal feed, biodiesel, natural pigments, food products and pharmaceuticals.Major attention was also directed to the recovery of valuable biomolecules such as collagen ω,-3 fatty acid, trypsin, chymotrypsin and elastase. Among these molecules, pepsin is one of the most beneficial and useful biomolecule that can be recovered from fish wastes.Pepsin is important aspartic proteases with many unique characteristics. It has several industrial applications including collagen extraction, cheese making, fish silage making, fish processing as well as use in medical research. Fish pepsin is primarily present in fish stomach and has a characteristic pH optimum of 2.0-4.0, distinct pH stability ≤ 6.0, a distinct optimum temperature of 30-55ºC and specific thermal stability ≤ 40-50ºC. Pepstatin A can strongly inhibit the pepsin activity while PMSF, E-64 and EDTA have a negligible impact. SDS, cysteine and aliphatic alcohols, have been identified as effective inhibitors while ATP, molybdate, NaCl, MgCl 2 , and CaCl 2 do not inhibit the activity of pepsin. Pepsin is widely applied in collagen extraction, in digestibility therapy,as rennet substitute and. At present, conventional method and innovative method have been developed for fish pepsin recovery. In the conventional method (ammonium sulfate), the partition of pepsinogen (PG) is mainly based on (a) crude enzyme extraction by homogenization and centrifugation, (b) purification of PG by gel filtration and anion exchange chromatography and (c) activation of PG under the acidic condition. The innovative recovery is based on aqueous two-phase system (ATPS). The conventional method is used for high purification while the ATPS is used for partial purification. Enzyme activity and concentration, specific activity (SA), purification factor (PF), molecular weight, and homogeneity, isoelectric point (pI) and are used to assay fish pepsin.

Collagen is the major fibrillar protein in most living organisms. Among the different types of collagen, type I collagen is the most abundant one in tissues of marine invertebrates. Due to the health-related risk factors and religious constraints, use of mammalian derived collagen has been limited. This triggers the search for alternative sources of collagen for both food and non-food applications. In this regard, numerous studies have been conducted on maximizing the utilization of seafood processing by-products and address the need for collagen. However, less attention has been given to marine invertebrates and their by-products. The present review has focused on identifying sea cucumber as a potential source of collagen and discusses the general scope of collagen extraction, isolation, characterization, and physicochemical properties along with opportunities and challenges for utilizing marine-derived collagen.

Problem statement: Anthropogenic activities pollute the oceans with oil through land run off, vessels accidents, periodic tanker discharges and bilge discharges. Oil spills are environmental disasters that impact human, plants and wild life including birds, fish and mammals. Approach: In this study, the International Guidelines for Preventing Oils Spills and Response to Disasters were reviewed and the characteristics of oil spills were discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of various oil spill response methods were evaluated. A comparative analysis were performed on the currently available remediation technologies using 10 evaluation criteria that included cost, efficiency, time, impact on wild life, reliability, level of difficulty, oil recovery, weather, effect on physical/chemical characteristics of oil and the need for further treatment. The advantages and disadvantages of each response method were used to determine the score assigned to that method. Results: There are many government regualtions for individual countries that serve as prevention mesures for oil spills in the offshore environment. They have to do with the design of equipment and machinery used in the offshore environment and performing the necessary safety inspections. The primary objectives of response to oil spill are: to prevent the spill from moving onto shore, reduce the impact on marine life and speed the degradation of any unrecovered oil. There are several physical, chemical, thermal and biological remediation technologies for oil spills including booms, skimmers, sorbents, dispersants, in-situ burning and bioremediation. Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages and the choice of a particular technique will depend on: type of oil, physical, biological and economical characteristics of the spill, location, weather and sea conditions, amount spilled and rate of spillage, depth of water column, time of the year and effectiveness of technique. Coclusion: Based on the comparative analysis, oil recovery with mechanical methods and the application of dispersants followed by bioremediation is the most effective response for marine oil spill.

Collagenase was isolated from fish waste (a mixture of haddock, herring, ground fish and flounder) using a Tris-buffer system. The proteins in the crude extract were precipitated using ammonium sulfate (40% - 80%) and purified with gel-filtration chromatography using Sephadex G-100. The results showed that the collagenase enzyme was produced as a latent enzyme and was activated with bovine trypsin and potassium thiocyanate (KSCN). The enzyme activity was affected by pH and temperature. Optimal enzyme activities were found at 35?C and a pH of 7.5 when insoluble collagene type I was used as substrate and the liberated amino acids were measured in relation to L-leucine in the presence of ninhydrin. The enzyme activity was completely inhibited by the action of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) suggesting that the collagenase enzyme isolated from the fish waste is a metalloproteinase enzyme requiring metal ions for enzyme activity. Dialysis against KSCN decreased the enzyme total activity and increased its specific activity. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacryla-mide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) indicated that the purified procollagenase enzyme have only one band at molecular weight of 50 kilodaltons (kDa). When the enzyme was cleaved with trypsin, it was found to consist of two subunits: a large unit with a molecular weight of 50 kDa and a small unit with a molecular weight of 10 kDa

Problem statement: Enzymes have vital roles in several industrial processes (foods, cosmetics, nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals) due to their highly selective nature and high activity at very low concentrations. Recent efforts to identify new sources of useful enzymes have been concentrated on the marine environment because of the potential to make use of processing wastes. About 35-50% of the mass of the fish caught is a waste that is disposed off at sea or in landfills. The extraction of enzymes from fish processing waste can reduce environment problems and improve the economics of the fish industry. Collagenases are a group of enzymes that can be extracted from fish waste. Approach: Comprehensive reviews of the literature on the extraction, purification, characterization and use of collagenases was carried out. Results: Collagenases have different molecular weights based on their types and sources. They have the ability to break down the peptide bonds in collagen at physiological pH. They are classified into two types: serine and metallocollagenase. Collagenolytic activities have been shown at a wide range of temperatures (20-40°C) and pH (6-8). Many activators can be used to achive collagenase activity including 4-Aminophenylmercuric Acetate (APMA), trypsin, potassium or sodium thiocyanate, iodoacetamide and potassium iodide. Dithiothreitol (DTT), mercaptoethanol, ethylendiaminetetracetic acid, ophenanthroline and cysteine inactivate the enzyme. Collagenases enzymes can be extracted with a variety of techniques using different buffering systems (tris-HCl, sodium bicarbonate, calcium chloride and cacodylate). All techniques involve the use of ammonium sulphate fractionation and centrifugation to precipitate the enzyme. Collagenases are normally purified using chromatographic techniques such as gel-filtration, ion-exchange and affinity column chromatography. Collagenase can be assayed with a number of methods, including: colorimetric absorbance, viscometry, radioactivity and fluorescence spectroscopy. Collagenases are partly responsible for toughness in red meats and are used as tenderizers in food industry, have application in the fur and hide tanning to ensure uniform dying of leather, used in medicine to treat burns and ulcers, eliminate scar tissues, transplantation of organs. Conclusion: Understanding of the nature of the enzymes and identifying the most suitable resources and the methods for their extraction and purification will have significant impact on the fish processing, food and medical industries.