Status of Fishery Discards and By-Products in Greece and Potential Valorization Scenarios towards a National Exploitation Master Plan
Efstratios Roussos,
George Triantaphyllidis,
Vassiliki Ilia,
Konstantinos Tsagarakis,
Athanasios Machias,
Leto-Aikaterini Tziveleka,
Vassilios Roussis,
Efstathia Ioannou,
Yannis Kotzamanis
Affiliations
Efstratios Roussos
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture 46.7 Km Athens-Sounio, 19013 Anavyssos Attica, Greece
George Triantaphyllidis
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture 46.7 Km Athens-Sounio, 19013 Anavyssos Attica, Greece
Vassiliki Ilia
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture 46.7 Km Athens-Sounio, 19013 Anavyssos Attica, Greece
Konstantinos Tsagarakis
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, 46.7 Km Athens-Sounio, 19013 Anavyssos Attica, Greece
Athanasios Machias
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, 46.7 Km Athens-Sounio, 19013 Anavyssos Attica, Greece
Leto-Aikaterini Tziveleka
Department of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Faculty of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece
Vassilios Roussis
Department of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Faculty of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece
Efstathia Ioannou
Department of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Faculty of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece
Yannis Kotzamanis
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture 46.7 Km Athens-Sounio, 19013 Anavyssos Attica, Greece
The valorization of aquaculture/fishery processing by-products, as well as unavoidable/unwanted catches and discards in Greece, is currently an underutilized activity despite the fact that there are several best practices in Northern Europe and overseas. One of the main challenges is to determine whether the available quantities for processing are sufficient to warrant the valorization of discards and fish side streams. This is the first attempt to systematically record and analyze the available quantities of fish by-products and discards in Greece spatially and temporally in an effort to create a national exploitation Master Plan for the valorization of this unavoidable and unwanted biomass. A thorough survey conducted within the VIOAXIOPIO project unveiled a substantial biomass of around 19,000 tonnes annually that could be harnessed for valorization. Furthermore, the production of various High-Added-Value Biomolecules (HAVBs) was investigated and experimental trials were conducted to assess the potential yields, with the collected data used to formulate four valorization scenarios.
