August 9, 2016 — DARTMOUTH, Mass. — UMass Dartmouth has established a new partnership with the Republic of Iceland intended to advance marine science and marine-related biotech research and commercialization, the university announced Monday.
Representatives of Iceland visited SouthCoast in 2015 to display and demonstrate some of the products Iceland is making utilizing the parts of fish that might typically be discarded in New England.
The result is 95 percent utilization of cod, said the announcement. Cod are abundant in Icelandic and Norwegian waters.
According to Dr. Brian Rothschild, dean emeritus of the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST), the products being manufactured can be something as familiar as cod fish oil to leather pocketbooks made with fish skin.
He said the method is similar to the old expression about Russia, “that they used to process everything in the pig except the squeal.”
Utilization of fish waste in New Bedford to make fish meal was curtailed decades ago after complaints about odor; Rothschild said today’s technology almost eliminates that.
UMass Dartmouth spokesman John Hoey said that the collaborations with Iceland, including faculty and student exchanges, will be mainly with the College of Engineering, concentrating on biofuels for example, and SMAST, the School for Marine Science and Technology, which is more oriented toward fisheries management and surveys.