In addition to offering various analysis services, the CZRI laboratories team also conducts research and development projects on behalf of industry and to support the different CZRI sectors.

The processing of marine products generates effluents rich in organic matter that contributes to the pollution of surrounding coastal waters and leads to a significant loss of raw material. The Laboratories and Analysis Services have lent their scientific support to numerous research projects led by the marine products processing industry in order to rectify this problem.

In 2005, the Analysis Services team worked with the New Brunswick Seafood Processors Association on a project dealing with best practices for managing effluent from the processing of marine products in Atlantic Canada. This study focused on the establishment of good management practices in the processing of six broad ranges of marine products: shrimp, sardines, herring roe, snow crab, fresh-cooked lobster and frozen lobster.

Over the past year, the CZRI has worked in cooperation with the “Association coopérative des pêcheurs de l’Île Ltée” (ACPI) to optimize the treatment of effluent generated by the processing of marine products through Dissolved Air Flotation / DAF, a very complex and innovative technique used in the processing of marine products. The project was conducted with the help of a financial contribution from the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation (CCFI) and the industry.

The Laboratories and Analysis Services team continues to work with the industry on research involving effluent from marine product processing plants. The effluent from the processing of shrimp contains shrimp oil that is very rich in rare carotenoid pigments (astaxanthine). This oil can be used as a food additive with beneficial characteristics for its incorporation into aquacultural feed, particularly the feed used for salmonids. In the context of this project financed by the CCFI and the industry, we will be working to optimize the recovery of shrimp oil.