The project is called Life Refish, is led by Jealsa and will involve an investment of three million euros.
Jealsa, Nueva Pescanova Group, Opromar, Stolt Sea Farm, Valora Marine Ingredients and the Marine Research Institute have joined forces in the Life Refish project, an initiative aimed at setting up a flexible biorefinery to valorize discards and by-products from their activity.
The initiative arose in response to what is considered one of the greatest challenges facing the marine industry sector, which is to make the best use of resources in order to optimize the generation of waste and give greater value to the raw material.
The project has a second, no less important aspect, which is the sustainability of the resource and providing the fishing sector with a way to manage the discards of its activity, since the Common Fisheries Policy requires the landing of everything caught, which must be deducted from the quotas, even though the material that does not reach the minimum size cannot be marketed for human consumption, which is considered economically unfeasible for fishermen.
Members
Life Refish is headed by Jealsa, leader in the canning sector, but the consortium includes the Nueva Pescanova Group -specialized in fishing, farming, processing and marketing of seafood products, both fresh, refrigerated and frozen-, Stolt Sea Farm -specialized in high-tech aquaculture-, the Marine Research Institute belonging to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Opromar (Organization of Fish Producers of the Port and Estuary of Marin) and Valora Marine Ingredients.
The latter company, which belongs to Jealsa, will be in charge of designing high value-added applications based on the by-products provided by the other stakeholders. The marine biorefinery that will emerge from the project will promote compliance with the landing obligation by promoting its adaptation and the sustainable management of by-products, in line with the Green Deal and transform them into high value-added products that are environmentally friendly.
The plan will have an investment of three million euros, which will be borne by the participating companies and 60% EU funding. Seven technical and research staff positions are expected to be generated, and they believe they could reach 100 by 2030.
In terms of quantities, the objective is to minimize discards by 6 % and to recover 2.7 % of the total fish and seafood by-products generated by the industry in Spain.
Involvement of R&D departments
The Life Refish project is an initiative that responds to a double problem in the extractive and processing sectors of the sea, which is why the promoters have placed great confidence in its success and have involved R&D departments in its creation.
On behalf of Jealsa, Salvador Durán, R&D manager of the Boirense company, confessed that “this initiative will allow us to advance in our raw material valorization strategy, while promoting research for greater sustainability of resources within the marine industry”.
For his part, the corporate director of R&D of the Nueva Pescanova Group, Juanjo de la Cerda, emphasized that the Life Refish project “is in line with our commitment to sustainability, as it will enable us to improve the use of our resources, be more efficient, minimize our environmental impact and contribute to the development of the circular economy”.
The representative of the Stolt Sea Farm group, Ana María Riaza Carcamo, R&D and Laboratory Director, also stated that the project “is relevant to our sustainability agenda, with our commitment to reducing environmental impact, promoting the circular economy and the maximum use of high quality of our farmed fish”.
