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This study is assessing the tsunami hazard for a segment of the Kamchatka western coast around the Oktyabrsky Spit. The motivation is to ensure transportation access to the village of Oktyabrsky and to the fish processing facilities situated on the Spit. The hazard estimates were derived by the worst case method. An analysis of seismicity and historical data on tsunami occurrences in the Sea of Okhotsk resulted in identification of two tsunami-generating zones that constitute threat to the Oktyabrsky coast segment, with a set of model tsunami-generating earthquakes being determined for each zone. For this set of models we conducted numerical modeling for tsunami generation and propagation, resulting in a selection of model sources that would pose the greatest threat to the coastal strip of interest. The next step involved refining calculations for these sources using a sequence of nested grids to find the parameters of tsunami impact on the coast. The main results of the present study consist in identification of tsunami-generating zones that pose the highest threat to the Oktyabrsky coast, the selection of tsunami-generating model sources in these zones, and estimates of parameters that characterize extreme tsunami waves posing threat to this coast strip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chitosan production process from fishery waste is already established in industrial scale, whereby fungal chitosan is produced in lower amounts. Since fungal chitosan could be isolated from under-valorized vegan streams while exhibiting slightly different characteristics, it has also potential for other applications. Within this publication, we focus on the chitosan production from Aspergillus niger. This study provides a detailed determination of the biomass composition, adapting and comparing different analytical tools, with special focus on the chitin and chitosan content. The major content of the dried biomass is composed of glucans (48.6 ± 1.4%), followed by proteins with an amount of 22.2 ± 0.7%. Chitin and chitosan provide 16.0 ± 0.8% of the biomass. Within our chitosan production studies, we compared the effect of different process strategies including steps as deproteinization (DP), acid extraction (AE), deacetylation (DA), as well as purification. Initially, we obtained poor values (lower than 73.6%) for the chitosan purity. A direct DA step followed by purification resulted in a chitosan purity of up to 89.6%, a recovery of 30.5% and a yield with regard to the biomass of 5.5%. The DA degree of the resulting chitosan is similar to chitosan derived from fishery waste, whereas the molecular weight is lower. The results achieved so far are consistent with the literature, extending beyond, the data emphasized that a chitosan production from residual fungal biomass after fermentation is suitable by direct DA and purification. However, further adaption is necessary so that other matrix compounds could be also obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the fishery industry plays a crucial role in meeting the global demand for human food. However, the increased production and processing of aquatic animals like fish, shellfish, squids, and bivalves have resulted in a significant amount of waste generation. This waste, which includes fish heads, viscera, skin, bones, scales, exoskeletons, pens, ink, and clam, account for approximately 30–70% of the total aquatic product. The accumulation of this waste not only adds to production costs but also poses a serious environmental challenge. To address these issues, researchers have turned to utilizing fish by-products to extract bioactive compounds such as protein hydrolysate, chitin, chitosan, carotenoid, carotenoproteins, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, and gelatin. These compounds possess desirable properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, and therapeutic effects. As a result, they have grabbed the attention of the food and feed industry for various applications. In this article, we aim to provide a concise review of the bioactivity properties of these compounds and their potential applications specifically in aquaculture and seafood processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron plays vital roles in important biological processes in fish, but can be toxic in high concentrations. The information on metalloproteins that participate in maintenance of Fe homeostasis in an esocid fish, the northern pike, as an important freshwater bioindicator species, are rather scarce. The aim of this study was to identify main cytosolic constituents that sequester Fe in the northern pike liver. The method applied consisted of two-dimensional HPLC separation of Fe-binding biomolecules, based on anion-exchange followed by size-exclusion fractionation. Apparent molecular masses of two main Fe-metalloproteins isolated by this procedure were ~360 kDa and ~50 kDa, with the former having more acidic pI, and indicated presence of ferritin and hemoglobin, respectively. MALDI-TOF-MS provided confirmation of ferritin subunit with a m/z peak at 20.65 kDa, and hemoglobin with spectra containing main m/z peak at 16.1 kDa, and smaller peaks at 32.1, 48.2, and 7.95 kDa (single-charged Hb-monomer, dimer, and trimer, and double-charged monomer, respectively). LC-MS/MS with subsequent MASCOT database search confirmed the presence of Hb-β subunits and pointed to close relation between esocid and salmonid fishes. Further efforts should be directed towards optimization of the conditions for metalloprotein analysis by mass spectrometry, to extend the knowledge on intracellular metal-handling mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish waste is a major environmental pollution problem and requires costly treatment prior to disposal. Conversion of fish waste to economically important and eco-friendly products will make fishing and fish processing more valuable and sustainable. This study evaluated waste residues from fish processing waste subjected to conventional physical extraction of fish oil for single-cell oil production using oleaginous yeast. Potential application of the single-cell oil to produce biodiesel was evaluated. The treatment containing fish waste residue (5%, w/v) and glucose (20 g/L, w/v) displayed the highest rate (14%) of total lipid generation. The fish waste residue proved to be a good nitrogen source for the oleaginous yeast, Rhodotorula sp. R1. At 15% (w/v) fish waste residue and 20% (w/v) glucose amendment of the medium, the highest biomass production was observed. The yeast bio-oil has a lipid profile like vegetable oils and consists of mainly long-chain fatty acids (between C14 and C24) which are suitable for biodiesel production. The most abundant fatty acids were palmitic acid (C16:0), elaidic acid (C18:1n-9t), and stearic acid (C18:0). FTIR analysis of the transesterification reaction product using the yeast oil confirmed its conversion to biodiesel. Although glucose amendment of medium supported lipid accumulation, it can be replaced with wastes rich in sugars to decrease the cost of single-cell bio-oil production. Results indicate the potential secondary value of fish processing waste in the cultivation of oleaginous yeast for bio-oil and biodiesel production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a great demand for precision fish farming in aquaculture, and accurate fish counting is essential for precise control and monitoring of fish farming processes. Traditional fish counting is manual, time-consuming, and labor-intensive. Image recognition is an effective method for automatic counting. However, the accuracy of automatic detection in real environments is limited by the different sizes, swimming styles of fish, and the potential for mutual occlusion between multiple moving objects. This study introduces a BoTS-YOLOv5s-seg model based on YOLOv5s to achieve accurate detection of fish edge by using the YOLOv5s instance segmentation model and improving the loss function to SIoU loss while improving non-maximum suppression to reduce missed detection of overlapping objects, and finally incorporating a bottleneck transformer to make the model more focused on valid image information and reduce the model parameters. The BoTS-YOLOv5s-seg model proposed in this study to a realistic scenario with a farmed fish dataset had better performance and resulted in a small model size of only 7.1 M, and the values of mAP@0.5 and GFLOPs of the proposed algorithm reached 90.9% and 25.4, respectively, surpassing the traditional YOLOv5s-seg, YOLOv5m-seg, and YOLOv5l-seg in terms of detection results. This research proposes a method that can effectively support accurate fish counting in the context of intelligent aquaculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish processing is an indispensable part of fish food production. It mainly involves de-heading, gutting, filleting, skinning, trimming, and slicing, with the cutting operations holding a critical role. Unfortunately, inefficiency, low quality, and poor safety are the primary problems facing the fish processing industry today, dramatically hindering the automation and intelligence of fish processing. Consequently, it is vital to develop intelligent cutting in current fish processing in an efficient, high-quality, and safe manner. This review summarizes the main cutting techniques for fish processing. The critical techniques to achieve intelligent cutting in fish processing from imaging, image processing, and modeling dimensions are outlined, with their applications in practical fish processing. Fish characteristics, cutting mechanisms, and cutting process control are emphasized. In addition, Industry 4.0 technologies, especially the Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics, and digital twins (DT), are emphasized. Finally, challenges and future work are highlighted, which will serve as references for subsequent researchers and enterprises engaged in this field to promote the automation and intelligence of fish processing production, ultimately realizing the high-efficiency, high-quality, and safe production of fish food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feeding activities by fishes are among the key ecological processes that sustain coral reef functioning. Those trophic-based processes are known to vary across space and across seasons or years. However, there is still little knowledge about their variability within and between days as well as whether these processes are dominated by the same species across time. Using remote underwater cameras, we quantified rates of three feeding activities (corallivory, herbivory and invertivory) for three one-hour time slots (morning, midday, afternoon) over two days on two coral reefs around Mayotte Island (Western Indian Ocean). Feeding activities were highly variable at within and between-day scales and concentrated in a few pulses. Herbivory was the highest in the afternoon which aligns with previous findings regarding activity of herbivorous fishes. Corallivory was the highest in the morning, which highlights the advantage of long-duration benthic remote underwater videos to accurately assess all trophic activities. Trophic-related processes were dominated by the same few species in both sites and across time of the day. This study pinpoints the importance of including within-day and between-day variations when studying ecological processes, as neglecting these variations may introduce biases into our understanding of these processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four hot-gas bypass defrosting configurations for CO2-NH3 cascade blast freezer for application in fish processing firm are numerically investigated. Due to the high moisture content of fish, defrosting is necessary after every 4 to 5 h of batch operation. A thermodynamic model for the cascade system and defrosting was developed to study various defrosting configurations formulated by rearranging the existing compressor to operate as a defrosting compressor and with the addition of an external defrosting compressor. From the simulation findings, it can be summarized that the conventional hot-gas bypass defrosting without defrost compressor is suitable for a high-capacity cascade refrigeration system with more than three evaporators. For low cooling capacity refrigeration systems, a defrosting compressor is necessary to elevate the temperature above the cascade condensing temperature. A dedicated defrosting compressor with a power consumption of 3.1 kW and a modified refrigeration/defrosting compressor with a power consumption of 6.8 kW can deliver 33.3 kW of heating at a temperature of +10 °C (45 bar). Incorporating a desuperheater between the main and defrosting compressors reduces compressor temperature and maintains the lubricating oil stability, without change in defrosting energy consumption and less exergy loss. The defrosting efficiency is obtained in the range of 39.7–42% which is in agreement with published literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of biological indicators in a bioassessment approach is important for inferences of anthropogenic stress in routine monitoring programs. One of the primary assumptions of bioassessment is that biological indicators observed at specific sampling sites will allow for inferences of local environmental quality; however, this assumption requires a reliable understanding of dispersal processes, which is particularly relevant in river systems due to their dendritic network. Inter-stream dispersal between different points of the river network could bias bioassessment, especially for highly mobile organisms like fish. Here, we examine standard biological metrics used in routine biomonitoring to determine how spatial variables, including dispersal, influence inferences between fish populations and environmental gradients. Using redundancy analysis (RDA) and variation partitioning, we tested the relative influence of both environmental and spatial variables on fish community structure and related community metrics. Fish were collected from 99 sampling sites distributed across 44 rivers and streams of the Great Morava River Basin, Serbia. Electroconductivity, the percentage of agricultural areas, dissolved oxygen, ammonia, and nitrate-nitrogen were found to be significant environmental variables, while ten spatial predictors from broad- to small-scales were found to influence fish community structure and community metrics. Our results suggest that contemporary dispersal among streams influences fish community composition, but that trait-based metrics are less sensitive than basic measures of diversity to spatial processes. Our results highlight the need for spatially independent sampling, as well as the need to consider dispersal-based processes in routine biomonitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ornamental fish industry has continued to flourish since eighteenth century with increased fascination by enthusiasts in the striking body colours and patterns displayed in the fishes, a beneficial outcome of rigorous selective programmes. The expression of these pigmented colours is the result of the differentiation and orientation of specialised chromatophores located within the dermal layer. The different types of chromatophores found in many ornamental fish species, are the basis of the unique colour hues and patterns. This review discusses the current approaches for enhancing the body pigmentation and pattern of ornamental fishes. Two factors are considered to be the main drivers of body colour regulation: feed additives (pigments) and rearing environment setup, i.e. tank colour and light. Potential candidate pigment genes to manipulate the ornamental fish body pigmentation and pattern have been elucidated through mapping of putative regulatory pathways, buoyed by the rapid development of next generation sequencing technologies. The effects of feed additives, tank background colour and light on various ornamental fish species, and regulatory pathways of involved genes offer valuable insights for enhanced variety production prior to genetic engineering and are herein discussed. It is hoped that the systematic analysis of the current knowledge in this review would be a boon for the ornamental fish community to step up efforts to boost the ornamental fish breeding industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish drying is a traditional method of preserving and utilizing fish in India. Small-scale women processors play a dominant role in production and marketing of dried fish. This paper analyzes the changes in the profile of India's fish processing industry over time focusing on the dried fish segment. We postulate that structural changes in fish production, including the rapid surge in aquaculture production, are closely linked to changes in fish processing and utilization in India. In particular, surge in demand for fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO) as an ingredient in aquaculture feeds has tilted fish utilization from direct human consumption towards feed. We pool data on India's fish production, utilization, and trade to describe these changes and their implications through descriptive analysis and regression modeling. Results from the regression analysis show that the FMFO segment gains market share mostly at the expense of the dried fish segment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary α-tocopherol on growth performance, lipid oxidative status, and disease resistance against Vibrio harveyi in hybrid grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus × E. lanceolatus). The experimental fish (7.74 ± 0.14 g) were fed diets with different α-tocopherol levels of 10.1 mg/kg (E10; control diet), 121.5 mg/kg (E122), 231.6 mg/kg (E232), 416.3 mg/kg (E416), and 815.4 mg/kg (E815) for 10 weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, the α-tocopherol levels significantly influenced growth performance, with fish fed E122 having significantly higher weight gain and specific growth rate than fish fed E10 (p < 0.05). Supplementation of α-tocopherol increased the total feed intake (FI) in hybrid grouper, with fish fed E815 showing significantly higher total FI than fish fed E232, however, no significant effects were observed in both FCR and FE parameters among fish treatments. Fish in all treatments demonstrated high survival, indicating that hybrid grouper was tolerant to short-term feeding with a deficient-α-tocopherol diet. Muscle and hepatic α-tocopherol contents increased with the increase in α-tocopherol levels. Meanwhile, the whole-body proximate composition, hematological parameters, and biochemical parameters were not affected by the α-tocopherol levels. The hepatic thiobarbituric acid reactive substances gradually decreased as the α-tocopherol inclusion increased, indicating the important role of α-tocopherol as an antioxidant. The findings also show that α-tocopherol supplementation improved the fish disease resistance against V. harveyi. Although α-tocopherol supplementation at 122 mg/kg diet can support growth and protect fish from bacterial infection, a higher level of E415 or 815 mg/kg provided the best protection from lipid oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical analysis of calcified structures continues to flourish, as analytical and technological advances enable researchers to tap into trace elements and isotopes taken up in otoliths and other archival tissues at ever greater resolution. Increasingly, these tracers are applied to refine age estimation and interpretation, and to chronicle responses to environmental stressors, linking these to ecological, physiological, and life-history processes. Here, we review emerging approaches and innovative research directions in otolith chemistry, as well as in the chemistry of other archival tissues, outlining their value for fisheries and ecosystem-based management, turning the spotlight on areas where such biomarkers can support decision making. We summarise recent milestones and the challenges that lie ahead to using otoliths and archival tissues as biomarkers, grouped into seven, rapidly expanding and application-oriented research areas that apply chemical analysis in a variety of contexts, namely: (1) supporting fish age estimation; (2) evaluating environmental stress, ecophysiology and individual performance; (3) confirming seafood provenance; (4) resolving connectivity and movement pathways; (5) characterising food webs and trophic interactions; (6) reconstructing reproductive life histories; and (7) tracing stock enhancement efforts. Emerging research directions that apply hard part chemistry to combat seafood fraud, quantify past food webs, as well as to reconcile growth, movement, thermal, metabolic, stress and reproductive life-histories provide opportunities to examine how harvesting and global change impact fish health and fisheries productivity. Ultimately, improved appreciation of the many practical benefits of archival tissue chemistry to fisheries and ecosystem-based management will support their increased implementation into routine monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Funding innovation requires knowledge on previous/on-going research and identification of gaps and synergies among actors, networks and projects, but targeted databases remain scattered, incomplete and scarcely searchable. Here we present the BlueBio database: a first comprehensive and robust compilation of internationally and nationally funded research projects active in the years 2003–2019 in Fisheries, Aquaculture, Seafood Processing and Marine Biotechnology. Based on the previous research projects' database realized in the framework of the COFASP ERA-NET, it was implemented within the ERA-NET Cofund BlueBio project through a 4-years data collection including 4 surveys and a wide data retrieval. After being integrated, data were harmonised, shared as open and disseminated through a WebGIS that was key for data entry, update and validation. The database consists of 3,254 "georeferenced" projects, described by 22 parameters that are clustered into textual and spatial, some directly collected while others deduced. The database is a living archive to inform actors of the Blue Bioeconomy sector in a period of rapid transformations and research needs and is freely available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21507837.v3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refrigeration plays a vital role in ensuring quality and safety of seafood. In a tropical country like India, the seafood industry has a relatively larger cooling load throughout the supply chain due to higher temperature differences between ambient and chilled seafood. The cooling demands in a seafood processing plant are typically at four different temperature levels. Supply of chilled water at 2 °C, ice at − 5 °C, cold storage maintained at − 25 °C, and a plate or blast freezer at − 40 °C. Commonly, a multi-evaporator multi-stage refrigeration system with refrigerants like R22, R404A, or NH3 are used in India. However, R22 and R404A have harmful effects on the environment due to their high global warming potential. This study proposed an all-natural multi-evaporator CO2–NH3 cascade refrigeration system (CRS). For comparison, the refrigeration demands in a surimi (seafood) processing and storage plant located in Mumbai were utilized. The study revealed that CO2–NH3 CRS has the highest COP and the lowest annual energy consumption followed by conventional NH3 system. CO2–NH3 CRS exhibited 6.2%, 12.3% and 3.2% less energy consumption compared to R22, R404A, and NH3 systems, respectively. Similarly, CO2–NH3 CRS also showed the lowest total equivalent warming impact which is 26.8%, 44.3% and 3.2% less compared to R22, R404A, and NH3 systems, respectively. Furthermore, CO2–NH3 CRS also presented relatively better results in terms of annual cost rate and life cycle cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to explore the thermal degradation characteristics of amino acids in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fillets processed by microwave and different traditional high temperature short time (HTST) sterilization. A custom-built thermal processing system was used to conduct the HTST processing with different parameters including heating rate (5.52–19.56 °C/min), maximum heating temperature (123, 133 °C) and thermal processing level (F0 = 3.0, 6.0 min). Microwave processing was conducted by a single-mode pilot microwave processing system. Results showed that rainbow trout fillets in processing with higher heating rates retained obviously more amino acids, which verified the great potential of HTST processing in the quality improvement of solid food products. Furthermore, heating rate had no effect on the thermal sensitivity of each amino acid. Raising the maximum heating temperature led to higher thermal degradation of amino acids, which demonstrated that extra high temperature might impair the quality improvement of traditional HTST processing. Compared with traditional HTST processed samples, the retention of amino acids in fish fillets processed by microwave processing was higher. Furthermore, the degradation rate of each amino acid in microwave processed samples was different with traditional HTST processed samples. These results showed that microwave processing could retain higher product quality and may provide non-thermal effects due to alternative electromagnetic fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In aquatic seeding production, the feeding regime of fish larvae consists of rotifers to Artemia, while there is a lack of intermediate-sized feed in the range of 350–600 µm. To solve this problem, in our previous study, the euryhaline rotifer Brachionus plicatilis (L-type, Notojima strain) were irradiated with carbon heavy-ion-beams, and large-sized rotifer mutant lines (> 350 µm lorica length) were established. This study aimed to enhance the mutated morphometric characteristics and reproductivity through the combined use of three microalgal species (Nannochloropsis oculata, Tetraselmis tetrathele, and Chlorella vulgaris), and two hormones [juvenile hormone (JH) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)]. The combination of T. tetrathele and JH was effective in enhancing the mutated phenotype, and the largest lorica length of 344–425 µm was observed with no significant differences in population growth between the wild-type and mutant strains. The combination of N. oculata and GABA enhanced the population growth of the mutant line, and its growth rate was 2.4 times higher than that of the control group (without GABA). This study indicates that the morphometric characteristics and reproductivity of rotifer mutant lines could be regulated by feed and hormone supplementation. These findings can promote the efficient use of mutant rotifer lines in aquaculture facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluated whether bearing tetrodotoxin (TTX) affects salinity stress in the juvenile tiger puffer Takifugu rubripes. Juveniles of hatchery-reared non-toxic T. rubripes [body weight (BW): 1.7 ± 0.2 g, n = 120] were divided into six tanks and acclimatized to salinity (8.5 ppt) that is equivalent to blood osmolality. Fish in three tanks were fed non-toxic diet, and those in the other three tanks were fed a TTX-containing diet (356 ng/g diet) three times a day until satiation. In each diet treatment, salinity of one tank was kept at 8.5 ppt, and the other two tanks were adjusted to either 1.7 or 34.0 ppt, and fish were reared for another 33 days. Then, we compared survival, growth, TTX accumulation, plasma osmolality, plasma cortisol, and glucose levels among treatments. We detected TTX only in the fish in the TTX-diet groups. Survival was highest at 8.5 ppt (70%) and lowest at 1.7 ppt in the TTX-diet group (20%). The BW was greater at 8.5 ppt, and plasma osmolality was significantly higher at 34.0 ppt than at any other salinities. Plasma cortisol level was significantly higher but glucose level was lower at 1.7 ppt. Possessing TTX at a low salinity may be lethal to tiger puffer juveniles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghana's marine artisanal fisheries subsector is an important contributor to livelihoods, food security and nutrition. Despite formal institutions and laws, annual landings of small pelagic species, the most important fishery in local communities, have been declining. In Ghana, fisheries management using traditional fisheries knowledge could be crucial for food and economic security and critical towards achieving the UN Sustainable Developments Goals (SDG). This study was therefore conducted to document the fishing, fish processing and fisheries management practices of the Ga people of Ghana as a starting point for sustaining the fisheries, local fishing communities and fish value chains. Data were collected from three landing beaches using interviews and focus group discussions with fishermen, fishmongers and the respective chief fisherman. The results include findings on fishing gears and techniques, fish processing and sales and traditional fisheries management and leadership. The dominant gear used are varied forms of drift and purse seine nets on motorised canoes. Fishermen navigate using the moon, features on land, sea depth and the direction and sound of sea waves. Behavioural patterns of different fish species are used to identify fishes in the water during fishing. Catches are distributed by the canoe owner's wife, and money from the sale is divided into three equal shares: a part to pay for fishing expenses and the other parts for the owner of the canoe and the fishing crew. The main fish processing method is smoking using the Chorkor oven. At each landing site, there is a chief fisherman who is respected as a repository of traditional knowledge on fishing practices and fisheries management. This study provides key insights into Ga traditional knowledge and highlights the need to incorporate and involve fishing communities in national fisheries policymaking. It is argued that traditional knowledge and leaders can contribute to a more sustainable management of Ghanaian fisheries and achieving SDGs 14, 1 and 2. The results of this study can also serve as a preliminary information basis and a guide for a possible adoption of the ecosystem approach to fisheries in Ghana. This could enable the country to fully fulfil her obligations under the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The waste generated by the global fishing industry, such as fish scales, is mostly considered useless and discarded in a disorderly and/or unplanned way in inappropriate places, posing serious risks to both the environment and human health. This study proposes the use of fish scales in combustion processes as an alternative for such residues and to avoid their exposure in urban areas. Combustion experiments were conducted in a drop tube furnace (DTF), and the factors temperature, residence time, and sample particle size were investigated. The main atmospheric pollutants (CO, NO, CO2, and SO2) and the residues generated from the combustion processes were characterized by FTIR, EDS and ICP-OES analyses, and SEM images. The samples showed better performance at 1100 °C and 500 -ms residence time, when the burnout reached 96%, and particle size greater than 300-μm and 300-ms residence time led to the worst combustion performance (24.45% burnout), with the highest CO and NO peaks, indicating incomplete combustion of the fish scales. The analysis of the residues revealed total decomposition of the organic matter at temperatures above 700 °C and formation of hydroxyapatite. According to the DTF results, the use of fish scales in firing processes is a viable treatment of the residues, generating energy and avoiding environmental problems caused by inadequate disposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of investigation, there are few ecological studies on the Amazonian fish fauna that have looked both at the main factors shaping the fish assemblages at a regional scale and used environmental, spatial and historical approaches simultaneously. The current study aimed to measure the relative influence of environmental aspects, spatial distance and historical processes on fish genera assemblages in the upper Amazon basin (Peru and Ecuador). Climate, slope and elevation were used as environmental variables; watercourse was used to represent the spatial distance between sites and phylogenetic relationships were used as a proxy for historical processes. A partial Redundancy Analysis (pRDA) was used to compute the influence of each group of factors (environment, space and historical processes) on the fish genera assemblage. Our analysis indicated historical processes had the greatest influence on fish genera assemblages, followed by spatial distance and environment. Such patterns are most likely due to the extinction processes caused by environmental filters generated by the Andean orogeny and possible speciation in each sub-basin. The results suggest that the use of phylogeny, in addition to environment and space, provides a useful tool with which to assess the drivers responsible for fish assemblages at a regional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turbo cornutus is an edible sea snail species whose viscera parts are by-products of fish processing. Although they can be used for human consumption as good sources of functional ingredients, they are generally discarded. The objective of the present study was to prepare bioactive hydrolysate (MSVAH) from viscera parts of T. cornutus using enzymatic hydrolysis, and to investigate their antioxidant and anti-hyaluronidase properties for use as potential functional food ingredients. In MSVAH, taurine was found to be the most abundant. Taurine is known to have excellent physiological activity. Taurine-enriched MSVAH showed good capacities of DPPH, peroxyl radical scavenging, and hyaluronidase inhibition, with IC50 values of 0.50 mg/mL, 0.32 mg/mL, and 2.87 mg/mL, respectively. MSVAH also significantly improved cell viability and inhibited intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) dose-dependently against oxidative stress induced by 2,2-azobis-(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH), a free-radical-generating compound, in immortalized human keratinocytes (HaCaT cells). Furthermore, MSVAH upregulated hyaluronic acid (HA)-synthesizing enzyme hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2) expression level, but downregulated expression level of HA-degrading enzyme hyaluronidase 2 (HYAL2), resulting in increased HA production in keratinocytes. Taken together, these results suggest that taurine-enriched MSVAH derived from viscera parts of T. cornutus, known to be by-products of fish processing, could be used to prepare potential bioactive hydrolysates for developing functional foods and nutraceutical products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes the available information on salt production on the Croatian coast in antiquity. In the Roman world, salt was produced by urban settlements, villas and fish-salting facilities. The majority of Roman villas on the eastern Adriatic shore likely had their own saltpans, from where they extracted salt for their own needs. Salt exploitation and the making of fish sauces were closely related. For the moment, we lack clear evidence of fish processing facilities on the eastern Adriatic coast. Nevertheless, we can imagine that numerous Roman fishponds were connected to salt production sites. Locally produced fish-salting amphorae also provide indirect archaeological evidence of fish processing. Because of the still low anthropization of large parts of the Croatian shore, many archaeological remains of historical saltpans, both underwater and on the coast, survive to the present day, which makes the Croatian shore an exceptional location for studying the history of salt production in the Mediterranean. A first synthesis of the archaeological investigations conducted on saltpan sites in Croatia is presented. Ongoing research will hopefully soon provide further interesting elements about the salt history of this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to mounting impacts of climate change, particularly increased incidence of drought, hence water scarcity, it has become imperative to develop new technologies for recovering water from nutrient-rich, water-replete effluents other than sewage. Notably, anaerobic digestate could be harnessed for the purpose of water recovery by repurposing digestate-borne minerals as nutrients in fermentative processes. The high concentrations of ammonium, phosphate, sulfate, and metals in anaerobic digestate are veritable microbial nutrients that could be harnessed for bio-production of bulk and specialty chemicals. Tethering nutrient sequestration from anaerobic digestate to bio-product accumulation offers promise for concomitant water recovery, bio-chemical production, and possible phosphate recovery. In this review, we explore the potential of anaerobic digestate as a nutrient source and as a buffering agent in fermentative production of glutamine, glutamate, fumarate, lactate, and succinate. Additionally, we discuss the potential of synthetic biology as a tool for enhancing nutrient removal from anaerobic digestate and for expanding the range of products derivable from digestate-based fermentations. Strategies that harness the nutrients in anaerobic digestate with bio-product accumulation and water recovery could have far-reaching implications on sustainable management of nutrient-rich manure, tannery, and fish processing effluents that also contain high amounts of water. Key points: • Anaerobic digestate may serve as a source of nutrients in fermentation. • Use of digestate in fermentation would lead to the recovery of valuable water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seafood processing industries produce large amounts of wastewater sludge in Thailand. Most of sludge is dewatered and then sent directly to landfills without utilization nor resource recovery. The dried sludge, having a gross calorific value (GCV) higher than 21.9 MJ/kg, might be worthwhile to utilize as refuse-derived fuel. However, the critical obstacle is its high moisture content of 87.4 wt%. This study investigated two techniques for drying sludge: hot air and microwave drying. The effects of hot air temperatures (100 °C–170 °C) and microwave power levels (100–800 W) were studied for their specific energy consumption (SEC), dried product characteristics, and drying kinetics. The results showed that the drying times decreased with the increase in hot air temperatures and microwave power. Under the tested conditions in this study, the application of microwaves reduced the drying time by at least 37.5% compared to using hot air. The reduction of drying times led to decreased energy consumption. Approximately 72.5–80.3 wt% of dried sludge was the volatile matter (VM). As this component was devolatilized, the GCV of the dried sludge decreased. The sludge dried by the microwaves had a GCV of 20.8–21.4 MJ/kg, while by the hot air had a GCV of 19.4–21.8 MJ/kg. The results from product analysis suggested that the microwave technique could be an alternative drying method when one requires a shorter drying time than the conventional hot air technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability—maintaining catches within the historical range of socially and ecologically acceptable values—is key to fisheries success. Climate change may rapidly threaten sustainability, and recognizing these instances is important for effective climate adaptation. Here, we present one approach for evaluating changing sustainability under a changing climate. We use Bayesian regression models to compare fish population processes under historical climate norms and emerging anthropogenic extremes. To define anthropogenic extremes we use the Fraction of Attributable Risk (FAR), which estimates the proportion of risk for extreme ocean temperatures that can be attributed to human influence. We illustrate our approach with estimates of recruitment (production of young fish, a key determinant of sustainability) for two exploited fishes (Pacific cod Gadus macrocephalus and walleye pollock G. chalcogrammus) in a rapidly warming ecosystem, the Gulf of Alaska. We show that recruitment distributions for both species have shifted towards zero during anthropogenic climate extremes. Predictions based on the projected incidence of anthropogenic temperature extremes indicate that expected recruitment, and therefore fisheries sustainability, is markedly lower in the current climate than during recent decades. Using FAR to analyze changing population processes may help fisheries managers and stakeholders to recognize situations when historical sustainability expectations should be reevaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies suggest that the hiring of migrants in the food processing industry has increased the migrant population outside large cities among affluent migrant-receiving countries. This study examines how the U.S. meatpacking industry and the Japanese seafood processing industry, in particular, have developed a dependence on migrants; it does so to identify whether and how a common—thus cross-nationally generalizable—process may account for migration outside large cities. A comparative historical analysis revealed that, with significant national differences between the United States and Japan, including in the legal and institutional contexts of migration, there is little commonality in the processes through which the industries have come to depend on migrants. Yet, there is a similarity in the development of mass production. Such production necessitates an undisrupted availability of full-time as well as low-wage workforce, and migrants on both sides of the Pacific are employed to ensure this availability. Thus, while urban-centered migration studies often emphasize the growth of low-wage services or small-batch manufacturing as an economic driver of migration, this study argues that, outside large cities, a different pattern of industrial transformation is associated with labor migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, it has been shown that fish, comprising the largest group of vertebrates and in many respects one of the least well studied, possess many cognitive abilities comparable to those of birds and mammals. Despite a plethora of behavioural studies assessing cognition abilities and an abundance of neuroanatomical studies, only few studies have aimed to or in fact identified the neural substrates involved in the processing of cognitive information. In this review, an overview of the currently available studies addressing the joint research topics of cognitive behaviour and neuroscience in teleosts (and elasmobranchs wherever possible) is provided, primarily focusing on two fundamentally different but complementary approaches, i.e. ablation studies and Immediate Early Gene (IEG) analyses. More recently, the latter technique has become one of the most promising methods to visualize neuronal populations activated in specific brain areas, both during a variety of cognitive as well as non-cognition-related tasks. While IEG studies may be more elegant and potentially easier to conduct, only lesion studies can help researchers find out what information animals can learn or recall prior to and following ablation of a particular brain area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquatic macrophytes add structural complexity to the environment, which influences fish species. The structure of macrophytes rafts can vary depending on the hydrological cycle and space availability. Thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate which predictors associated with environmental conditions, composition of macrophyte species and spatial factors can affect fish communities in different hydrological regimes. The study was carried out in oxbow lakes in the Amazon, in the middle Purus River, Amazonas, Brazil. Samples of fish and macrophytes were collected during the flood, receding and drought periods, and environmental variables were measured in all macrophytes rafts. Partial redundancy analysis was applied to quantify the relative contribution of environmental variables, macrophyte composition and spatial factors in the fish community. Our study revealed that environmental conditions and macrophyte species composition, and both spatially structured as well, were the main factors that explained changes in fish composition in floating meadows of oxbow lakes. Corroborating our predictions, the variations in the fish communities were explained mainly by niche-based processes, including environmental conditions and macrophyte species composition as an environmental component, which varied over the hydrological cycle. The spatial component was more important during flooding, environmental conditions during receding, and macrophyte species composition during the drought hydrological regime. However, the shared explanations that indicated a spatially structured environment, both for environmental conditions and for composition of macrophytes, were greater during all hydrological regimes, also supporting our prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to decipher the mechanism of emulsion-based food stabilization by fish-derived collagen hydrolysate. Collagen type I was isolated from seven fish processing by-products with yields ranging from 9.15 to 92.38%. The isolated samples had a mass of 110–120kDa and eluted at 30.44% NaCl in ion-exchange chromatography. The collagen samples were enzymatically digested to obtain collagen hydrolysate (CH) with mass <6kDa. The seven CH samples were subsequently screened for surface activity. CH obtained from Pacu skin and Tilapia bones exhibited more than 80% solubility over a wide pH range, zeta potential greater than +50mV, moisture retention up to 92–96%, emulsification activity of 53–70 m2g−1, and emulsion stability of 62–85min, and successfully increased the emulsion stability of a drug by 14 times. Both CH samples were able to retain the emulsion properties of butter and chocolate sauce for 25 weeks and did not show any cytotoxic effect on leukocytes and Vero cells. Structural studies revealed that the CH peptides existed in polyproline-II conformation that assembled to form a vast quasifibrillar network. Sequence analysis through tandem mass spectroscopy revealed that the peptides could be classified into multiple groups depending on the distribution of hydrophilic/lipophilic residues (H/L). The surface activity of the CH was found to be dependent on (1) small size and a wide array of H/L ratio, (2) abundance of hydroxyproline, and (3) assembly of the peptides in the emulsion interface to form a mimic-helix–based quasifibrillar network which ensured optimal orientation and subsequent interaction with multiple phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of salt permeation into fish meat was studied using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and salt diffusion simulation. MRI measurements of a fish body rubbed with salt powder were carried out, using various echo times to calculate the relaxation time 1H T2 and construct a 1H T2 map. The 1H T2 values were measured for fish fillets immersed in various salt concentrations to obtain the relationship of 1H T2 to the salt concentration. This was used to convert the 1H T2 map to the salt distribution in the fish body. The results showed that the method of taking out the internal organs and rubbing salt into the fish body and the abdominal cavity led to a more homogeneous distribution of salt after a short incubation time than the method of only rubbing salt on the surface of the fish body. This result implies that applying salt into the abdominal cavity helps to increase salt penetration and produce a homogeneous salt concentration throughout the fish. Simulations of the salt permeation into the fish body were also carried out to provide insight into the salt distribution obtained by the MRI measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water level fluctuations (WLFs) are generally regarded as the primary factor structuring the fish metacommunities in floodplain lakes, but their effects on fish taxonomic and functional diversity have been limited explored. Here, we asked how fish taxonomic and functional structures vary in response to different WLFs, and how environmental parameters influence fish metacommunity structures among different WLFs. Our results demonstrated significantly higher Richness, Pielou’ evenness, Shannon-Wiener index, functional richness, and functional evenness in high water phase, which was probably due to high fish recruitments originating from floodplain rivers. The high abundance of riverine gudgeons in high water phase confirmed the enhanced fish dispersal processes from rivers to floodplain lakes which were triggered by flood pulses. Compared to the scenario of high-water level, our results demonstrated significantly lower taxonomic and functional diversity during low water phase with more abundant generalist fish species. Such changes were probably triggered by enhanced environmental filtering during the low water phase, since we detected significantly intensified environmental loadings in low water level. Water temperature, conductivity, total nitrogen, and phosphate phosphorus were retained as significant predictors of fish taxonomic and functional structures across different water levels, which suggested that WLFs influenced fish assemblages through physicochemical changes. The present findings highlighted the importance of sustaining natural WLFs as well as seasonal floods in high water for the fish recruitments in floodplain lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metacommunity theory predicts that the relative importance of regional and local processes structuring communities will change over time since initiation of community assembly. Determining effects of these processes on species and trait diversity over succession remains largely unaddressed in metacommunity ecology to date, yet could confer an improved mechanistic understanding of community assembly. To test theoretical predictions of the increasing importance of local processes in structuring communities over successional stages in metacommunities, we evaluated fish species and trait diversity in three pond metacommunities undergoing secondary succession from beaver (Castor canadensis) disturbance. Processes influencing taxonomic and trait diversity were contrasted across pond communities of different ages and in reference streams. Counter to predictions, the local environment became less important in structuring communities over succession but did exert a stronger effect on trait sorting. Beta diversity and trait richness declined over succession while there was no influence on species richness or trait dispersion. The trait filtering in older habitats was likely a response to the larger and deeper pond ecosystems characteristic of late succession. In contrast to these observed effects in ponds, the local environment primarily structured species and trait diversity in streams. Analyses of the relative importance of regional and local processes in structuring fish assemblages within each pond metacommunity suggests that habitat age and connectivity were more important than the environment in structuring communities but contributions were region and scale-dependent. Together, these findings highlight that regional and local processes can differentially influence taxonomic and trait diversity in successional metacommunity mosaics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The number of life cycle assessment studies related to seafood has risen considerably in the past decade. Despite this proliferation, major life cycle inventory databases tend to lack information describing this sector. Hence, the main objectives of this study are to present the first effort to aggregate and standardize seafood-related datasets in the ecoinvent database and to explain the main data sources and methodological choices used in the building of the datasets. Methods: A list of the main datasets included in this first series is presented with a brief description of the underlying modelling approaches. Seafood capture, production and processing activities were modelled as the use phase of the required infrastructure. The full life cycle of infrastructure was considered, from construction, through use and maintenance to end-of-life. Results and discussion: Some of the most representative seafood industries in South America were modelled, namely Peruvian anchovy and hake fisheries, Andean trout, Brazilian tilapia and Peruvian fishmeal production, as well as the production of canned, frozen, cured and of a multi-ingredient fish-based product (fish sticks). Inventory data were found to be in line with those of seafood LCA literature and driven by the parameters widely known to be critical: fuel use intensity for fisheries, feed conversion ratio for aquaculture and energy intensity for seafood processing and reduction into fishmeal. The modelling approach was modular and intuitive, thus useful and reproducible by database users and data providers. Conclusions: The datasets created constitute a robust basis for the use of seafood-related data in international databases. It is expected that this work will stimulate further efforts by practitioners and data providers to model their inventory data into ecoinvent and other life cycle inventory databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study, was focused on the optimization of hydrolyzing condition for the extraction of fish protein hydrolysates (FPH) from Leiognathus splendens a low value bycatch fish. Factorial design, of Response surface methodology was used to attain optimum conditions for the interactive factors (pH 5, time 90 min and temperature 50 °C) to achieve the highest degree of hydrolysis 37.9%. Under this optimum condition relatively high protein (74%), and low lipid (1.37%) were observed in FPH. Furthermore, the regression coefficient of predicted model was close to 0.999, for both experimental and validation runs confirms the reliability of the experimental model. The results of physicochemical analysis, and molecular profile, exhibited that the protein hydrolysates contains low molecular protein peptide (20 kDa) and more essential amino acids content. The chemical score of amino acid composition for hydrolysates state that, it fulfills the nutritional requirements for poultry and adult human. Moreover, the indispensable amino acid content in protein hydrolysates observed as higher level. Hence it can serve as potential ingredients in balanced human protein requirement, which can be easily absorbed in the body more quickly than intact proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review presents data both on general patterns of melatonin (MT) functioning in vertebrates and its features specific to fish. The topography of MT secretion, mechanisms of its synthesis, types of MT receptors, as well as its effects on the immune and antioxidant systems and water–salt balance are described. A special focus is on MT-related processes of fish reproduction, growth and nutrition. The effect of MT on the key aspects of neuroendocrine regulation of fish feeding is discussed. It is shown that MT, as a main endogenous synchronizer of physiological processes, plays a crucial role in the central and peripheral regulation of various physiological functions, adapting them to environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wastewater generated from fish processing industry contains a credible level of biodegradable proteins and low biodegradable fats, oils, and grease (FOG). The conventional biological treatment of fish processing wastewater (FPWW) containing high concentration of FOG faces the challenges of clogging, hindrance to sedimentation due to the formation of hydrophobic sludge along with lipids, flocculation of sludge with poor activity, dewatering of sludge due to the presence of lipids, and formation of aminated offensive odors. The present investigation employed baffled moving bed biofilm reactor (BMBBR), up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, fluidized immobilized cell carbon oxidation (FICCO) reactor, and chemoautotrophic activated carbon oxidation (CAACO) reactors in series to treat FPWW. Five treatment options were evaluated to elevate the correct option for the treatment of FPWW. The treatment option V had established the removal efficiency of COD, 99 ± 0.1%; protein, 99 ± 0.2%; lipids, 100%; and oil and grease, 100%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability science has increasingly adopted more action-oriented approaches in an attempt to mobilise and implement a broad knowledge base to sustain human wellbeing and promote sustainable development. There is an increasing recognition of the importance of knowledge exchange (KE) between scientists and end users of research for enhancing social, environmental and economic impacts of research. Here, we explore the process of KE through close observation of two cases of KE between external PhD researchers and local actors in small-scale fisheries at the community level in Zanzibar, Tanzania. First, we address context by examining perceptions of research held by actors at community level and patterns of interactions and flows of benefits between external researchers and local actors including fisheries managers, local research institute as well as fishers and traders. Second, we unpack experiences of actors engaged in the cases of KE. The study draws attention to KE processes in the Global South and actors outside decision-making processes in fisheries management. The study concludes that as KE is a complex and dynamic process and that (i) history and relationships between actors shape the outcomes of KE, (ii) KE includes more than knowledge-based processes and outcomes because multiple incentives of different actors shape KE and how it is experiences and (iii) knowledge-based outcomes of KE are complex and unpredictable as different actors create their own meaning from shared information. The results exemplify the inevitably complex and unpredictable nature of KE processes and their outcomes, and provide insight into how KE can contribute to science–society relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial metaphor that links women to land and men to sea has modelled the explanations of many social scientists interested in women's roles in the fisheries sector worldwide, which—in turn—inspired development interventions and policy development in fisheries. The metaphor is also reflected in many culturally underpinned normative emic models that structure the sexual division of labour in fishing, fish processing and marketing and in family traditions in fisher communities across cultures and countries. Building upon an ethnographic example from Galicia (Spain) and linking the analysis to global examples available in the literature, we bridge the gap between the local and the global by analysing the denials that the use of the spatial metaphor portrays. In doing so, the paper explores the dual power of this metaphor—in both etic accounts and emic models—and its performative dimensions. Whereas in some socio-cultural contexts, land-based activities can be a source of power and the spatial metaphor may be a useful tool with analytical potential; we conclude that its use may result in a denial of the variety of women's actual roles, contributions and importance in the sector. Additionally, the metaphor removes the interconnections between spaces, blurs the liminal areas of the coastal fringe and denies diversity, including class differences. In sum, the metaphor strengthens the ideological connection between fishing and capturing fish at sea, preventing women from enjoying full rights as fishers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The α-Glucosidase inhibitors (aGIs) from natural resources have been recognized as a safe and efficacious way to manage type 2 diabetes—an ongoing global health problem. The objective of this study was to synthesize aGIs from demineralized shrimp shell powder (deSSP), a low-cost fishery processing by-product, via microbial fermentation. Its effect on reducing plasma glucose in an ICR mouse model was then evaluated, and its other beneficial bioactivities investigated. Among the various marine chitinous materials, fermented deSSP (fdeSSP) via Paenibacillus conversion demonstrated potent inhibition against rat intestinal α-glucosidase that was comparable to acarbose, a commercial anti-diabetic drug, with max inhibition and IC50 values 87% and 120 µg/mL, and 89% and 110 µg/mL, respectively. After optimization of the fermentation process, activity increased 1.52-fold (2500–3800 U/mL). By comparing the HPLC fingerprints and bioactivity of fermented and unfermented deSSP, it was confirmed that aGIs were produced as they were not present in the deSSP medium prior to fermentation. In animal tests, at a dose of 100 mg/kg bw, fdeSSP significantly reduced plasma glucose in ICR mice with no signs of diarrhea. The fdeSSP also demonstrated acceptable antioxidant activity (IC50 = 250 µg/mL) and potential anti-NO activity (70.08 µg/mL). Though not toxic to normal cells, fdeSSP reduced the viability of some cancer cells, including A549, Hep G2, MCF-7 and WIDR with inhibition values of 78%, 71%, 45% and 35%, respectively. The results above suggest that fdeSSP may be a good candidate for development as a health food or drug, due to its potential hypoglycemic and added value bioactivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructed wetlands are suitable for treating industrial effluents due to their low cost and effectiveness, thus preventing the deterioration of waterways witnessed in recent decades at global level. Advances in the study of wetland design are necessary for the development of constructed wetlands. An artificial wetland model with subsurface flow (three replications), Typha domingensis, and hydraulic retention time of 5 days was used. It was designed for the post-treatment of the effluent from a fish processing plant. All samples were taken at the model system inlet and outlet every 21 days for 1 year. Significant removal of nitrogen and organic matter (biochemical oxygen demand and the chemical oxygen demand) was achieved, but phosphorus removal was less than expected. Wetland performance was not affected by seasonal variations in ambient temperature. The increase in the C/N ratio was related with a higher wetland efficiency of organic matter removal. Overall performance for the wetland model under in situ environmental conditions was determined by the intrinsic reaction rate of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the question of the production of locally processed and imported marine products in the Aegean through time, utilising zooarchaeological evidence combined with various other records when available. What is clear from this overview is that Aegean populations were familiar with processing techniques from as early as the Mesolithic period. Despite evidence for more intensive exploitation and preservation of marine resources at specific times and in specific areas, aimed at maximising the returns from seasonally abundant catches, in general preserved marine products seem to have been of limited significance to Aegean communities and they probably never constituted a significant part of the Aegean diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into the processing of marine resources along the Mediterranean coasts in antiquity reveals an uneven picture. The archaeological evidence for the systematic processing of fish and seafood in the western part is abundant and varied. Here, the production of salted fish and fish sauces seems to have been an important factor contributing to economic growth in many locations. In the eastern part of the Mediterranean, however, archaeological evidence for the processing of marine resources is much less common and is often indirect. Large-scale processing plants are virtually absent from the archaeological record and there are few studies of the remains of fish and shellfish or of other material evidence relating to fish preservation and commerce. Yet written evidence on the subject abounds, but places heavy emphasis on consumption and commerce rather than production. This paper describes the evidence and explores possible reasons for this imbalanced representation in an attempt to assess the actual importance of the processing of marine resources across the whole Mediterranean region. Issues discussed are the shifting emphasis on fish processing across space and through time, archaeological research agendas and methodologies, resource availability and abundance and, finally, issues of scale and visibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present a short overview of the production and trade in marine resources in Italy and Sicily during Antiquity. As the results of this research have already been published in detail elsewhere, the aim of this short contribution is to summarise the most important data and to highlight some of the research questions that remain unsolved. The paper follows a chronological order, from the pre-Roman period to the 2nd century AD, as well as a geographical one, starting with Sicily, moving on to Magna Grecia in what is now southern Italy and then moving on to the rest of Italy. A major consideration, highlighted here, is that in many cases we are dealing with data from old excavations and precise archaeological information is rarely available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for salt generated by the dietary and domestic needs of most Greek city-states could be usually fulfilled by local resources given the general abundance of salt along the coasts of the ancient Mediterranean. The extremely rare references to interregional salt trade in literary and documentary sources corroborate this idea. As a bulky commodity with little economic value, salt was too expensive to be transported over long distances and was more conveniently obtainable from local resources. However, the situation was different when large-scale fish processing centers entered into the equation. The production and widespread distribution of processed fish required a steady supply of both fish and salt. Salt only was able to transform fish—which is otherwise extremely perishable—into a durable commodity, easy to store and trade. The strategic importance that salt assumed at these centers transformed its economic significance and made interregional trade both convenient and profitable. Also, it was through the medium of processed fish that the surplus of salt production available in certain regions was redistributed across the Mediterranean and came to play an important, albeit indirect, role in interregional trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender shapes livelihoods through access to resources and the distribution of benefits from economic activities. To work effectively with local people, resource management and community development initiatives should therefore be sensitive to the influence of gender on livelihoods. This paper considers gender in the context of broader social trends around livelihoods and focuses on a case study of shell money production and trade in the Langalanga Lagoon in Malaita Province, Solomon Islands. We pool data from several recent research projects with historical material from secondary sources. We find that the gender division of labour in the shell money value chain has changed somewhat over time, particularly in that women are now actively involved in trading. However, this shift has created friction due to norms about what kinds of activities are suitable for women, and who should control cash incomes. Whilst shell money remains one of the most important livelihoods in Langalanga lagoon, our findings also illustrate that the shell money value chain and the income earned varies considerably from family to family, with some making a better living than others. We argue that interventions seeking to improve livelihoods in coastal communities should thus be based on an understanding of differentiation within communities, and practitioners should consider whether interventions will result in community development, or may have the impact of increasing inequality between families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the gendered implications of environmental change using case studies of two small-scale fishing communities in Chilika lagoon, India. We undertake an intersectional analysis that examines dynamics between groups of fisherwomen in relation to social-ecological change. We focus specifically on (1) fisherwomen’s perspectives about the key drivers of change (e.g., natural disasters and aquaculture) within the social and ecological system of Chilika lagoon; (2) how environmental change is impacting the livelihoods and coping responses of fisherwomen; and (3) how fisherwomen communities are adapting to the ongoing process of change, highlighting in particular the gendered dimensions of out-migration. Our findings demonstrate that fisherwomen’s roles and identities are not static and that the impacts of environmental change vary for different groups of fisherwomen. We find that gender intersects with caste, income, geographic location, age, and household membership to create heterogeneous experiences and knowledge that reflects the complexities associated with gender and environmental change. With specific regard to the increase in fisherwomen out-migrating, we show that responses and adaptations to environmental change have gender-differentiated impacts and challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The roles of women, men, and other family members have changed during the history of Finnish small-scale fisheries. Generally, the most significant unit of the livelihood is the household, but fisheries have been of major importance also in the local community. Cooperation in fisheries has been quite common and in the past local community provided also employees for fish processing factories. Today, many coastal fisher families process their own catches and sell the products directly to consumers in fish marketing events. In this marketing strategy, women are typically in core role, although quite often women’s labor can be considered as “invisible work.” Today 9% of Finnish small-scale fishers are women. In many cases, fishing is not the only source-generating income in a fisher household, and often the wife of the family earns a steady income that keeps up opportunities to sustain the uncertain fishing livelihood. In our article, we examine women’s and men’s participation and roles in fisheries households and communities. We also study how these roles have changed over time and in what way are women’s and men’s contribution represented in statistics, politics and research. The study rests on case analyses and a collection of literature and interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]