This research project hopes to ensure that nothing from industrial fishing goes to waste

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A $15.8 million research project involving Western Research Chair and biology professor Raymond Thomas is hoping to find better ways to use the natural by-products of our oceans.

From finding new ways to repurpose salmon heads for agricultural and cosmetic products, to developing a new health care solution using proteins found in eels, the Marine Biomass Innovation project integrates Indigenous tradition and wisdom, and scientific innovation.

A collaboration between six Indigenous communities, five industry partners, five Canadian universities and four international education institutions, the project is an effort to reduce waste, and fully utilize all the products of Canada’s fishing industry – with the hope of providing new economic opportunities to communities that rely on the ocean’s bounty.

“We want to find components that will allow 100 per cent utilization of biomass and allow rural, remote, coastal and Indigenous communities to be hubs of innovation in Canada – all centred around a green, marine-based economy,” Thomas said. “The majority of marine biomass comes from these communities – that’s where the processing plants are located – but they are not accruing the maximum benefit from those local assets.”

Currently, up to 70 per cent of harvested material from marine industries can be discarded as waste.

Chief Peggy White from Three Rivers Mi’kmaq Band said that Indigenous communities have had voices at the table throughout the project, “this work considers our views and perspectives and actually integrates them into the work that’s being done. It’s a whole brand-new way of inclusion, reconciliation, treating us as equal partners and valuing our knowledge.”

The integration of Indigenous wisdom has been key to the project, “The researchers have learned just as much from us as we have from them. Now, they are our champions, they say ‘the community knows.’ It shows our knowledge has just as much value,” White said.

Western’s associate vice-president of innovation and strategic partnerships said that the project is exemplary of the opportunities that such projects provide to build bridges between educational and Indigenous communities, “If we could transport that (approach) right through the rest of society, that would be great. This is how we begin, though. It’s a very hopeful time.”