Boost for Irish marine research

The initiative is being funded by the Marine Institute and the Irish Department of Agriculture and Food. It follows recommendations made by the Marine Institute  in a recent report, and will be running for seven years. Research institutions in Ireland are now being invited to submit applications, which will be assessed by a panel of international experts. Four key themes have been identified; Sustainable harvesting of fish species not currently targeted as food for human consumption; seaweeds; farming of fish and shellfish; and discarded materials from fish processing plants. Noel Dempsey, minister for marine communications and natural resources, said the programme aims to redress the imbalance between consumer awareness of some marine-derived ingredients and the full potential from the sea, "by supporting cutting edge research that could yield enormous benefits to Ireland's economy and to its health as a nation." "Marine functional foods and ingredients are key elements in our strategy to brand this country as the Seafood Island of Europe,” he said.