Frozen shellfish to combat pollution

3 December 2001

Millions of tiny oysters and mussels are being frozen and stored for the future to help combat marine pollution around Britain's coast.

Until now, testing for pollution using these living indicators could only be done in the summer when the shellfish were reproducing. This new method combines cryogenic technology with a secret recipe of protective natural compounds to keep the tiny shellfish in a state of suspended animation.

Two dynamic young scientists have started their own company to develop this revolutionary new technique. Coastal & Marine Biotechnologies (CMB) Ltd., a spin-out from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), is being opened in Plymouth on 7 December by Dr Caroline Jackson, Chair of the European Parliament's Environment Committee and MEP for the South West.

The new method is inexpensive, reliable, quick and easy to perform at any time of the year. It can be used for routine testing of seas around tourist beaches, on board ships or in response to environmental disasters such as oil spills.

The embryonic shellfish are frozen to a temperature of minus 196°C - more than twice as cold as any recorded temperature in Antarctica - and stored in special containers that resemble drinking straws.

Research Director, Ian McFadzen, said, "At this incredibly low temperature living tissue is normally destroyed. But by carefully controlling the cooling process and adding our special cocktail of protective compounds the animals can survive for at least 50 years in their suspended state." The compounds used were originally derived from Arctic and Antarctic organisms and tropical plants.

When testing is done, the tiny creatures are thawed and placed in seawater where pollution is suspected. "If they develop and grow normally then the water is clean, but if they die or show deformities that will indicate the presence of harmful pollutants," said John Wedderburn, co-founder of CMB, "If repeat testing needs to be carried out in the same area over several decades, the same batch of frozen embryos can be used to ensure consistency in the test results."

The freezing technique can be applied to fish breeding programmes or used to conserve rare or vulnerable species of marine life. These ultra-low temperatures are the same as those used in human IVF (in vitro fertilisation) techniques.

Further information

Ian McFadzen
Director
CMB Ltd.
Tel: 01752 764430
Mob: 07776 136033

John Wedderburn
Director
CMB Ltd.
Tel: 01752 764430
Mob: 07884 438927

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Notes

1. Dr Caroline Jackson MEP will open Coastal & Marine Biotechnologies Ltd at 10.30am on Friday 7 December. Members of the press are welcome to attend the opening ceremony.

2. Ian McFadzen and John Wedderburn will be available for interview prior to the launch of the new company.

3. Ian and John left NERC's Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) earlier this year to pursue their business ideas. They were encouraged and supported by NERC through its business plan competition, and received expert mentoring in business planning, finance and management. They are continuing their relationship with PML by carrying out commissioned research for them.

4. NERC is the UK's Natural Environment Research Council funds and carries out impartial scientific research in the sciences of the environment. NERC trains the next generation of independent environmental scientists.

5. Photographs of the frozen shellfish and equipment used are also available from CBM Ltd.

Press release: 17/01

Frozen shellfish to combat pollution

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