Enzymes from Fish Processing Waste Materials and Their Commercial Applications

Worldwide population growth as well as the accompanying fast development in urbanization and industrialization, have spurred a massive increase in fisheries production driven mainly by new developments in fishing technologies. Current harvesting and processing practices generate a remarkable amount of fish waste globally on a yearly basis. On average, two-thirds of the whole fish catch is thought to be by-products that are abandoned. Fish by-products and processing waste provide significant disposal challenges for the fishing industry. Thus, waste generated during fish processing must now be disposed of and recycled properly in order to sustain industry and save environment. Fish processing wastes, especially digestive organs offer enormous biotechnological potential as enzyme sources. Fish species’ biological variety produces a diverse range of enzymes with distinct characteristics. Despite the wide array of enzymes present in fish, the major ones of economic importance include types commonly used in industrial applications such as proteases, transglutaminases, and lipases. Other major enzymes found in fish viscera include chitinases and collagenases. Fish processing waste-derived enzymes may have distinct features that make them more suitable for industrial uses since they live in a broad range of temperature regimes and have other traits that set them apart from their warm-blooded cousins. Hence, to make the most use of marine resources, those enzymes may be recovered from wastes produced during the processing of fish and employed as value-added products or processing aids in a variety of sectors.