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Laboratory Representative
Description
The Pacific Northwest is home to over 90 species of commercially-managed groundfish along the West Coast and over 30 threatened or endangered fish and marine mammal species--including iconic Pacific salmon and killer whales. Protecting our region's living marine resources and their habitats is critical to sustaining the environment, our economy, public health, and quality of life.
The NWFSC's mission is to conduct the science necessary to conserve marine and anadromous species and their habitats off the Washington, Oregon, and northern California coasts and in freshwater rivers of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Our research provides reliable, relevant, and credible information to help decision-makers and natural resource managers build sustainable fisheries, recover endangered and threatened species, maintain healthy ecosystems, and protect human health. The Center is also dedicated to enhancing public awareness, education, and stewardship of our marine resources.
The Center's research brings together many disciplines, including fisheries science, marine biology and ecology, genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, oceanography, and physiology. In addition, many of the Center's research projects are conducted in cooperation with other organizations, including federal, state, local, and tribal entities throughout the region, nation, and world.
The NWFSC is one of six regional science centers for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries). The Center's headquarters in Seattle, WA and its five research stations in Washington and Oregon are home to more than 500 scientists and staff. Each research station provides unique capabilities that enable Center scientists to better understand the diversity of living marine resources in the Pacific Northwest.
Mission
The Pacific Northwest is home to over 90 species of commercially-managed groundfish along the West Coast and over 30 threatened or endangered fish and marine mammal species--including iconic Pacific salmon and killer whales. Protecting our region's living marine resources and their habitats is critical to sustaining the environment, our economy, public health, and quality of life.
The NWFSC's mission is to conduct the science necessary to conserve marine and anadromous species and their habitats off the Washington, Oregon, and northern California coasts and in freshwater rivers of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Our research provides reliable, relevant, and credible information to help decision-makers and natural resource managers build sustainable fisheries, recover endangered and threatened species, maintain healthy ecosystems, and protect human health. The Center is also dedicated to enhancing public awareness, education, and stewardship of our marine resources.
Technology Disciplines
Beneficial Omega-3 Fatty Acids from Fish Oil
Omega-3 fatty acids are fats commonly found in marine and plant oils and are thought to have nutritional benefits ranging from the prevention of heart disease to depression. Omega-3s are essential fatty acids, meaning that they cannot be synthesized by the human body, but are vital for normal metabolism.
However, extracting high-quality fatty acids from fish to create supplements for human consumption presented a number of challenges - until NOAA scientists came up with a new way.
The innovative process developed by scientists at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, and patented in 1992, improved the method for purifying and enriching omega-3s from fish oils. The process involves exposing the oil extracted from fish to a chemical reaction and then removing any by-products of the reaction, such as alcohol. The process produces a higher extraction of the beneficial omega-3 fatty acids from the oil, which makes the process more economical for manufacturers of supplements."
NOAA Advancement Changes Sushi Forever
Surimi - a fish-based food product that has been pulverized to a thick paste- is used in many Asian cultures to mimic the texture and color of the meat of lobster, crab, and other shellfish. Surimi is also available in the Western market and is usually sold as imitation crab meat. A problem arises in the production of surimi, and similar processed fish products when a certain type of parasite is present in the muscle of the fish that are used. Instead of a product that resembles real crab meat, the parasites cause the muscle tissue to soften and turn to mush during processing. The resulting product cannot be sold as surimi.
In 1990, NOAA scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service patented a technique for using a water extract of potato to treat fish meat used in surimi to improve the overall firmness of the texture in the final product. Previous efforts to solve this messy problem, such as rapid heating of the fish, or applications of dried egg, either did not work or produced meat with undesirable odors or colors. The invention developed by NOAA scientists improved upon existing processing technologies and resulted in a more economical use of multiple fish species in the manufacture of surimi in the United States.
