Global consumption of fish has doubled since 1973, and the developing world has been responsible for

nearly all of this growth.The total per capita consumption of food fish in the developing world has increased from 7.3 kg/capita/year to 14.0 kg/capita/year from 1973 to 1997 while it has come down from 22.6 kg/capita/ year to 21.7 kg/capita/year from 1973 to 1997 in the case of the developed world. The projected per capita consumption of food fish in the year 2020 are estimated to be 16.2 kg/capita/year and 21.5 kg/capita/year for the developing world and developed world, respectively (Delgado et al., 2003 ). Countries with rapid population growth, rapid income growth, and urbanization tend to have the greatest increases in consumption of fish products. Because most wild fisheries are near their maximum sustainable exploitationlevels, production from these fisheries will likely grow only slowly to 2020. People in the developing world will increase their total consumption of food fish, whereas total consumption is likely to remain static in the developed world. Even under the ecological collapse scenario, global per capita consumption declines only by a small amountfrom 17.1 kg per year under the baseline scenario to 14.2 kg (Delgado et al., 2003). Canada possesses the worlds longest coastline (244,000 km),representing 25% of the entire coastline in the world ( Agricultureand Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), 2003 ). The capture fishing industry operates in three broad regions (Atlantic, Pacific and freshwater) in Canada. Canada exports over 75% of its fish and seafood prod ucts to more than 80 countries (AAFC, 2003). The main categories of fish involved are groundfish, herring, salmon, and shellfish. There are a few other countries such as China, Thailand, India and Sweden where the fishery sectors (catching and processing) contribute significantly to the national gross domestic product (GDP). The total net change in exports from 1973 to 1997 was 465 thousand tonne for China and 231 thousand tonne for India (Delgado et al., 2003).The fish processing schemes in terms of raw material, source of utility water, and unit processes vary between plants. The common processes in fish processing plants are filleting, freezing, drying, fermenting, canning and smoking (Palenzuela-Rollon, 1999). Similar to most processing industries, fish processing operations produce wastewater, which contains organic contaminants in soluble, colloidal and particulate form. Depending on the particular operation, the degree of contamination may be small (e.g., washing operations), mild (e.g., fish filleting), or heavy (e.g., bloodwater drained from fish storage tanks). Typical flow diagrams of fish meal production and salmon processing are presented in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, respectively ( Management of Wastes from Atlantic Seafood Processing Operations, 2003). In fishery wastewater the contaminants present are undefined mixtures of mostly organic substances. Again, it is difficult to generalize the extent of the problem created by this wastewater as it depends on the effluent strength, wastewater discharge rate and the absorbing capacity of the receiving water body (Gonzalez, 1996). During fish evisceration and cooking high content of COD, nutrient, oil and fat are generated in fish processing wastewater ( Aguiar and Sant, 1988; Mendez et al., 1992). The level of total soluble and suspended COD vary largely between factory and fish type. The fish and shellfish processing industries are facing

problems of waste handling and disposal, plant sanitation, raw material availability and cost, production efficiency, increased competition, and increasing labor and energy costs. As well, pollution prevention regulations applicable to these industries could become morestringent in coming years ( Table 1). Given these challenges, costeffective solutions for waste handling and operations must be found for plants to remain in business ( AAFC, 2003). To cope with the fish processing operation liquid effluent guidelines and more stringent standards (provincial or local government), the high strength fish processing wastewater should be treated through a good waste management and treatment technology. This review attempts to identify the latest trends in biological 2. Characterization of wastewater from fish processing plants The volume and concentration of wastewater from fish processing depends mainly on the raw fish composition, additive used,processing water source and the unit process. The main components of fish processing wastewater are lipids and protein (Gonzalez, 1996). A summary of contaminant concentrations in effluent from different fish processing plants is presented in Table2. Despite the substantial variation in results, these data provide a useful guideline for wastewater treatment system design and act as a starting point for waste minimization. 2.1. pH Effluent pH from fish processing plants is usually close to neutral. The results obtained from four different fisheries from British Columbia showed pH in the range of 5.77.4 with an average pH of 6.48 ( Technical Report Series FREMP, 1994). During the production of fish meal, fish condensate is produced where pH range from 9 to 10. Ammonia emission and proteinaceous matter decomposition is mostly pH dependent (Gonzalez, 1996). 2.2. Solids content Suspended solids may affect the aquatic life by reducing the amount of light that enters into water. According to different fisheries in British Columbia, the effluent total solids concentrations were generally high (20003000 mg/L). Total suspended solids (TSS) accounts for approximately 1030% of total solids (TS)(Technical Report Series FREMP, 1994). In general, fish processing wastewater contains high levels of suspended solids which are mainly proteins and lipids (Palenzuela-Rollon et al., 2002 ). In the case of salmon, bottomfish, halibut, redfish and tuna the TSS were in the range of 1001000 mg/L. Carawan et al. (1979) observed that in tuna processing the average value of total solids was 17,900 mg/L of which 40% was organic. The fish condensate has high volatile solids (VS) consisting of trimethyl amine (TMA) and volatile fatty acids (VFA). The wastewater characteristics from fish processing units depend on the composition of raw fish, the unit processes, source of processing water

and additives used such as brine, oil for the canning process ( Palenzuela-Rollon, 1999). 2.3. Organic content In a fish processing wastewater, BOD 5 originates primarily from carbonaceous compounds and nitrogen containing compounds (protein, peptide and volatile amines). In a fish possessing industry, the effluent COD is usually higher than BOD5 . A review of literature showed that wastewater from fish processing operations has high BOD5 and COD. No information is available in the literature to explain if BOD5 values include nitrification. Most of the BOD5 usually comes from hold water and from the butchering process (Technical Report Series FREMP, 1994 ). Fish canning industries have a high concentration of organic polluting substances in the range of 10,000 50,000 mg/L (Mendez et al., 1995). The wastewater generated during fish meal production is known to bear an extremely high organic load. The wastewater produced by the washing of surimi has also been known to have fairly high organic load. The characteristics of the wastewater are found to be greatly affected by the raw materials used in the processing plants ( Omil et al., 1996). The quality of the raw materials to be processed has also been found to vary as a function of time (Omil et al., 1996). The high-strength wastewaters such as the one generated during fish meal production are often known to be diluted with cooling waters from theoverall process, prior to disposal ( Alfonso and Borquez, 2002). The ratio of process water to product is one of the major factors influencing the organic content of the fish-processing effluent.The wide range of data for organic content of the effluent for a gi ven species/process ( Table 2) could be due to variation in the ratios of process water to product, the type and quality of raw materials used in different processing units. Effluent BOD5:COD ratios varied widely within and among processing plants ranging from 1.1:1 to 3:1 ( Technical Report SeriesFREMP, 1994). Carawan et al. (1979) observed that the BOD5 (5001500 mg/L) of tuna waste was only 40% of the COD (1300 3250 mg/L) value. As reported bydel Valle and Aguilera (1990) fish meal blood water contributed the highest COD value (93,000 mg/L) among all the processes.

2.4. Fat, oil and grease (FOG) Fat, oil and grease (FOG) are also important parameters of fish processing wastewater. Around 60% of the oil and grease originates from the butchering process (NovaTec, 1994 ). The rest of the oil and grease is generated during fish canning and

fish processing operations ( Gonzalez, 1996). The FOG should be removed from wastewater because it usually floats on the waters surface and affects the oxygen transfer to water. Carawan et al. (1979)reported the FOG values for herring, tuna, salmon and catfish processing were 60800 mg/L, 250 mg/L, 20550 mg/L and 200 mg/L,respectively. 2.5. Nitrogen and phosphorous Excess quantity of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) may cause proliferation of algae and affect aquatic life in a water body. For biological treatment, a ratio of N:P of 5:1 is recommended for proper growth of the biomass ( Eckenfelder, 1980; Metcalf and Eddy Inc., 1979 ). Although N and P are normally present in the fisheries wastewater, their concentration is minimal in most cases(Gonzalez, 1996). The high nitrogen levels are likely due to the high protein content (1520% of wet weight) of fish and marine invertebrate (Sikorski, 1990). Sometimes high ammonia concentration is observed due to high blood and slime content in wastewaterstreams. As reported by a few fish processing plant the overall,ammonia concentration ranged from 0.7 mg/L to 69.7 mg/L (Technical Report Series FREMP, 1994). In the fish condensate the total ammonia content can be up to approximately 2000 mg N/L. High BOD concentrations are generally associated with high ammonia concentrations (Technical Report Series FREMP, 1994).The degree of ammonia toxicity depends primarily on the total ammonia concentration and pH. Environment Canada, Atlantic Region reported an effluent ammonia concentration of 42 mg/L for salmon processing and 20 mg/L for groundfish processing. Phosphorus also partly originates from the fish, but can also be introduced with processing and cleaning agents ( Intrasungkha et al., 1999). 3. Water management and cleaner technology Fish processing requires large amounts of water, primarily for washing and cleaning purposes, but also as media for storage and refrigeration of fish products before and during processing. In addition, water is an important lubricant and transport medium in the various handling and processing steps of bulk fish processing. Fish processing plants generate large wastewater volumes and are frequently inefficient users of water ( World Bank Group, 2007). It was reported that pollution control in fish processing plants in Thailand could be achieved through water conservation and waster reuse ( Achour et al., 2000 ). A summary of water consumption data from four fish processing plants in British Columbia and wastewater discharge flows for different fish processing units is presented in Table 3. Average water use during different unit operations in a gulf shrimp canning plant (Table 3) indicates that peelers use as much as 58.1% of the total water consumed (Carawan, 1991). Tuna processing plants were reported to have wastewater discharges as high as 13627.4 m3/d (3600,000 gpd). In canning of tuna, the wastewater is generated from fish thawing,washing, and eviscerating, cooling and washing of fish and cansafter pre-cooking and cooking, and

clean-up of washing areas (Palenzuela-Rollon, 1999). Very high water consumption occurs when the amount of processed fish is low. It can be seen from Table 3 that large salmon processsing plants discharge 3.1211 L/kg (374 gal of wastewater/1000 lb) while small salmon processing plants discharge 9.8976 L/kg (1186 gal of wastewater/1000 lb fish). High water consumption may also be due to high base line water consumption. The highest and lowest recorded water consumption in fish processing plants in British Columbia was 228 m3 /tonne and 2.9 m 3 /tonne respectively ( Technical Report Series FREMP, 1994). Water consumption in Japanese fish factories range from 15.02 L/kg to 50.07 L/kg (1800 gal/1000 lb to 6000 gal/1000 lb) for the various types of plants. It has been reported that water use in surimi processing was 25 times the throughput. Thus, water use is 25.036 L/kg fish or 227.83 L/kg surimi (3000 gal/l000 lb fish or 27,300 gal/l000 lb surimi) ( Carawan, 1991 ). Wastewater from fish processing and industrial fisheries is very diverse. Each plant is unique so generalizations about water use and wastewater characteristics are difficult (Carawan, 1991 ).As water is used extensively in fish processing, water saving measures are very common cleaner production opportunities in this industry. The first step in reducing water consumption is to analyze water use patterns carefully to identify leaks and wasteful practices and ways to address them and determine optimum water consumption rate necessary to maintain process operations and food hygiene standards. Once water use for essential operations has been optimized, water reuse can be considered without compromising product quality and hygiene. There are many areas in fish processing plant in which the use of water can be minimized by systemic way. One of the first water saving techniques employed should be to eliminate the extensive use of flumes for in-plant transport of product. This technique was applied at one plant whose water consumption was reduced from over 32.226 m3 water/m3 of fish to 10.742 m3 water/m3 Of fish (300 gal/bushel of fish to about 100 gal/bushel of fish). Many plants are now using pneumatic ducts rather than flumes for moving small particles, dry material such as shell, and wet screened solids. Spring-loaded hose can be used for water saving which automatically shuts off when released by the user. Much more water is being used in the average butchering operation than is necessary (Carawan et al., 1979 ). Wastewater reuse basically involves collecting the effluent from one or more unit processes and then using that effluent as the influent for other unit processes The main factor in wastewater reuse lies in matching the effluent from one unit process with the influent requirements of another unit process. The matchmaker must be careful to take into account the effluents quantity and quality when examining the source requirements of prospective processes ( Carawan et al., 1979). The food industry presents limited opportunities for recycling due to the stringent cleanliness required. It is conceivable that wastewater could be cleaned up sufficiently to be used for a non food contact use, such as cooling water (McDonald et al., 1999). Consideration and demonstration of the technical feasibility of the reuse of municipal

wastewater as potable water has occurred in South Africa (Kfir and Slabbert, 1991 ) and several US cities (Rogers and Lauer, 1991). The safety and public health issues involved have been widely discussed, but generally pipe-to-pipe potable reuse is not favored and most schemes in use involve a natural intermediate step (i.e. aquifer, reservoir) (Johns, 1995 )., 4. Biological treatment processes After suitable primary treatment the wastewater is treated through a biological wastewater treatment system where microorganisms are involved in degradation of organic matter. Types of biological systems used in treating fish processing wastewater are provided inTable 4. 4.1. Anaerobic processes Anaerobic treatment converts the organic pollutants (COD,BOD5) in wastewater into a small amount of sludge and a large amount of biogas (methane and carbon dioxide), while leaving some pollution unresolved. The main advantages, particularly for bigger plants, are (i) low operating costs, (ii) low space requirements, (iii) valuable biogas production, and (iv) low sludge production. Anaerobic systems are well suited to the treatment of fish processing wastewater because a high degree of BOD5 removal can be achieved at a significantly lower cost than comparable aerobic systems and generate a smaller quantity of highly stabilized,and more easily dewatered, sludge. Furthermore, the methane-richgas which is generated can be captured for use as a fuel ( Johns,1995).

4.1.1. Anaerobic xed-bed and uidized bed reactors Balslev-Olesen et al. (1990) carried out pilot scale studies with a sh cannery wastewater using an anaerobic lter (AF) reactor and an anaerobic uidized bed (AFB) reactor. The details of organic loading rate and COD reduction are given in Table 4. It was ob-served that with reduction in temperature the COD reduction dropped along with a reduction in gas production. It was con-cluded that with a proper control system and a sufciently long starting period, the anaerobic bio-lm reactor was robust with a good performance and low operating costs. Moreover anaerobic bio-lm reactors will be active for periods of more than a week without an addition of organic matter (Balslev-Olesen et al., 1990). Anaerobic lter treatment of shery wastewater and tuna con-densate was conducted by Prasertsan et al. (1994). The organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) were varied during

the study. Organic loading rates have a great inuence on the biodegradation of organic matter in the wastewater, reected in the biogas productivity and the proles of pH and volatile fatty acids. The highest COD reduction (84%) was obtained for shery wastewater at a minimum OLR of 0.3 kg COD/m3 day and maximum HRT of 36 days. The data showed that with increased OLR, the COD reduction efciency dropped. The highest loading rate in which the system still maintained its high conversion ef-ciency (over 78% COD reduction) was 0.99 kg COD/m3 day at an HRT of 11 days. The tuna condensate contained a high content of volatile acids (3.34 g/L). COD reduction was maintained at 60% up to an OLR of 1.67 kg COD/m3 day and sharply decreased there-after. Biogas productivity was highest at an OLR of 1.3 kg COD/ m3 day, with the pH of the efuent at 7.68. Biogas production stopped completely at an OLR of 2.5 kg COD/m3 day. A pilot plant study was performed by Mendez et al. (1992) on the anaerobic treatment of wastewater from a sh-canning fac-tory. The system consisted of a predigester of 7 m3 a suspended sludge digester of 15 m 3 and a clarier of 3 m3 Around 7680% BOD5 removal was achieved with an OLR of 4 kg COD/m3 day. There was no requirement of additional nutrient during opera-tion. The salinity level of 15 g Cl/L was maintained and with in-creased salinity no signicant effect was observed. Veiga et al. (1991) carried out both laboratory and pilot studies to treat wastewater from a tuna processing industry in down ow stationary xed lm reactor under mesophilic conditions. Both the laboratory and pilot-scale reactors operated satisfactorily at an organic loading rate of 2 kg/m3d and provided 75% COD re-moval efciency. 4.1.2. Upow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor Upow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors have been ap-plied to a wide range of industrial wastewaters, including those containing toxic/inhibitory compounds (Weiland and Rozzi, 1991). The process was found to be feasible for treatment of domestic wastewater with temperature as low as 1416 C and even lower (Lettinga et al., 1980). According to Palenzuela-Rollon et al. (2002) the application of UASB system was a promising treat-ment option for sh processing wastewater. They determined theperformance of USAB reactor for the treatment of mixed sardine and tuna canning efuent at varying lipid levels. They mentioned that at low lipid level (203261 mg/L, 9% of total COD) approxi-mately 78 8% COD removal and 61 17% COD conversion to methane were achieved with an OLR of 2.3 g COD/L day and an HRT of 7.2 2.8 h. In the case of high-lipid wastewater a two step UASB was recommended where the total COD removal and conver-sion to methane were 92% and 47%, respectively. Reactor treating a high-lipid wastewater showed a higher sludge volume index (SVI) than that treating a low-lipid wastewater. Punal and Lema (1999) have used a 380 m 3 UASB reactor for the treatment of sh-canning factory wastewater. The wastewater was a mixed efuent of tuna, sardine and mussel processing. The total alkalinity of more than 3 g CaCO3 /L was maintained to operate the system properly and to allow the biomass to resist load shocks. An HRT of 2 days was maintained and the OLR was varied from 1 kg COD/m3 day to 8 kg COD/m3 day.

The efciency of the system was dependent on the nature of the wastewater. The reactor per-formance was better when the reactor treated mussel and tuna cooking wastewater jointly, due to the highly degradable carbohy-drate content of mussel. They determined an optimal linear veloc-ity of 0.7 m/h at which 8095% COD removal was achieved. 4.1.3. Effect of pH and ammonia content on anaerobic processes During the production of sh meal, sh condensate is produced which has high volatile solids (VS) consisting of trimethyl amine (TMA) and volatile fatty acids (VFA). In the sh condensate the to-tal ammonia content can be up to approximately 2000 mg N/L and the pH can be from 9 to 10. Sandberg and Ahring (1992) investi-gated the inuence of high pH on anaerobic degradation of sh processing wastewater in a UASB reactor. According to Boone and Xun (1987) most methanogenic bacteria have optima for growth between pH 7 and 8, whereas VFA degrading bacteria have lower pH optima. The optimal pH for mesophilic biogas reactor is 6.77.4 (Clark and Speece, 1971). The study of Sandberg and Ahr-ing (1992) demonstrated that sh condensate can be treated well in a UASB reactor from pH 7.3 to 8.2. When the pH was increased slowly to 8.0 or more 1517% drop in COD removal occurred. Ace-tate was the only carbon source in the condensate that accumu-lated upon increasing the pH. More than 99% of VFA and TMA in process wastewater were degraded up to pH 7.9. It was concluded that gradual pH increment was essential in order to achieve the necessary acclimatization of the granules and to prevent disinte-gration of the granules and that the pH should not exceed 8.2. Aspe et al. (2001) modeled the ammonia-induced inhibition phenomenon of anaerobic digestion and concluded that methano-genesis was the most inhibited stage. The methanogenic activity was reduced by the presence of high concentrations of ammonia as a result of protein degradation during the anaerobic treatment. Ammonia inhibition was directly related to the concentration of the undissociated form (NH3), therefore being more important at high pH levels. It was also reported that free ammonia (FA) inhib- itory concentrations for mesophilic treatment have been 25 140 mg N-FA/L whereas during the thermophilic digestion of cattle manure, higher values, 390700 mg N-FA/L, were tolerated after an initial acclimation period (Guerrero et al., 1997). 4.1.4. Effect of salinity on anaerobic processes Fish processing industries require a large amount of salt (NaCl) for sh conservation. The wastewater generated by a sh-process-ing industry is rich in protein-based nitrogen, organic matter and salts. It is well known that anaerobic treatment of wastewater is inhibited by the presence of high sodium/or chloride concentra-tions. Methanogenesis is strongly inhibited by a sodium concentra-tion of more than 10 g/L (Lefebvre and Moletta, 2006). But the work of Omil et al. (1995) on sh-processing efuent using an anaerobic contact system showed that the adaptation of an active methanogenic biomass at the salinity level of the efuent was pos-sible with a suitable strategy. The treatment of high saline waste-waters was possible in an up-

ow anaerobic lter operating at loadings up to 24 kg COD/m3 day. Anaerobic digesters are usually more sensitive to high salinity than an activated sludge unit. A Chilean team worked in particular on the anaerobic digestion of shery efuents, mainly those generated at the time of sh unload-ing. After recycling and primary treatment in order to eliminate proteins and grease the efuent, containing 46 kg COD/m3, 1:85 kg SO 2 4 =m3 and 16.2 kg Cl/m 3 , could be treated anaerobi-cally using a marine inoculum which induced specic methano-genic activity at 37 C of 0.065 kg COD-CH4 /kg of VSS/d (Aspe et al., 1997 ). 4.2. Aerobic processes 4.2.1. Activated sludge system In an activated sludge process the incoming stream is diluted in a completely mixed system and thus it is more stable to perturba-tions, i.e., the reactor is more resistant to shock loads of BOD5 and toxic compounds. In shery-wastewaters the perturbations that may appear are peaks of concentration of organic load or ow peaks. The ow peaks can be damped in the primary treatment tanks (Gonzalez, 1996). The activated sludge process with biologi-cal denitrication is a popular technology satisfying stringent standards. The activated sludge technology is dominating over the bio-lm process in the practical treatment of sh processing wastewater (Battistoni and Fava, 1995). Generally a higher oxygen availability is required in sh processing wastewater compared to other food processing wastewater for stabilization. Dairy, fruit and vegetable wastewater require approximately 1.3 kg O 2/kg BOD5 , whereas sh processing wastewater requires 3 kg O 2/kg BOD5 (Carawan et al., 1979). In a sh-processing industry mostly extended aeration type activated sludge systems are used. A long aeration time is provided with a low applied organic loading. A detention time of 12 days is maintained in the process. A loading rate up to 13.6 kg (30 lb) of BOD5 can be applied daily for each 28.3 m 3 (1000 ft3 ) of aeration basin volume. Food to microorgan-ism ratios (F/M) of 0.1 to 0.3 show the best operating condition for this type of a system. Sludge age (solids retention time) should be maintained at 1820 days. Temperature has a signicant inu-ence on the performance of the extended aeration system since pinpoint oc can develop and loss of biological activity will decrease the performance efciency of this system under cold-weather operating conditions (Carawan et al., 1979 ) 4.2.2. Rotating biological contactor A rotating biological contractor (RBC) is basically an attached growth process providing the advantages of both of biological xed lm and partial mixing (Tay et al., 2004). As the biological growth comes in contact with air, oxygen is absorbed by microorganisms (Reynolds and Richards, 1996). RBC efciency is affected by disc rotational speed, hydraulic retention time, loading rate, disk sub-mergence and temperature. The main advantages of an aerobic RBC are (i) short hydraulic retention time (HRT), (ii) high specic surface area, (iii) high biomass concentration, (iv) insensitivity to toxic substrate, (v) less accumulation of sloughed bio-lm and par-tial mixing, (vi) low energy consumption, and (vii) operational sim-plicity. A multi stage RBC is generally suitable for a high-strength wastewater such as wastewater from a sh-processing industry.With a three-stage

laboratory scale RBC a clear relationship was evident between the organic loading rate and COD removal ef-ciency. As OLR was increased from 18.44 g/m 2 day to 36.89 g/m2 day, COD removal efciency decreased from 97.4% to 85.4%. It has been observed that the SCOD removal increased from 62.7% to 93.7% relatively to rotational speed increase from 3 rpm to 11 rpm. Thus aerobic RBC with 36% submerged level and 11 rpm would be effective for treating high-strength organic wastewater. In comparison with an activated sludge system the RBC reactor is better in terms of stability, MLVSS content, recycling and energy requirement. An RBC reactor provides more stability, requires lower energy and there is no necessity of sludge recycling (Najafpour et al., 2006). 4.2.3. Trickling lter The primary mechanism of a trickling lter is not ltering ac-tion of ne pores but rather diffusion and microbial assimilation (Beneeld and Randall, 1980). The penetration depth of substrate into a microbial lm depends on several factors such as wastewa-ter strength, wastewater ow rate, rate of substrate utilization of biomass and the coefcient of diffusivity of substrate molecule in the lm. Two types of media are commonly used in trickling lters, stone media and synthetic media (Gonzalez, 1996). For stone med-ia the lter depth is only 0.93 m (310 ft) whereas for synthetic media up to 12 m (40 ft) lter depth have been used (Beneeld and Randall, 1980). Trickling lters, utilizing plastic media in col-umns 4.56.0 m high, have been used in the treatment of high strength fruit and vegetable wastes (3000 4000 mg/L BOD5 ). High liquid recirculation rates and forced air circulation are used to achieve BOD5 removals up to 90%. There is limited experience as to how trickling lters will perform when treating sh and seafood processing wastewaters (Carawan et al., 1979). As with all biolog-ical systems, low temperatures reduce the degrading capacity of trickling lters. In cold areas trickling lters may be covered (Gonzalez, 1996). In Rhode Island, a company called BioProcess Technologies used specially designed netting materials for the attachment and growth of microorganisms needed to digest and reduce organics in a sh processing wastewater. The netting mate-rial used in the BioProcess system can be characterized as a xed lm or attached type of biological treatment. The conguration used can either be in a submerged mode or free standing where wastewater is trickled down through the netting material. The results indicate that the trickling lter design can take loadings of up to 5.2 g BOD5/m media/day (3.5 lb BOD5 /1000 ft media/day) and still reduce the BOD 5 by 87%. Upscale design of the trickling lter using data of 1520,000 gpd of wastewater with BOD 5 in the 23000 mg/L range indicated that 200,000 linear feet of media in 46 reactor tanks would be required (Park et al., 2001). 4.2.4. Aerated lagoon Aerated lagoons are used where sufcient land is not available for seasonal retention or land application and economics do not justify an activated sludge system. Efcient biological treatment can be achieved by the use of an aerated lagoon system. The

ponds are between 2.4 m and 4.6 m deep, with 210 days retention time and achieve 5590% reduction in BOD5 ( Carawan et al., 1979). Two types of aerated lagoons are commonly used in sh processing wastewater treatment either completely mixed or facultative la-goons. In completely mixed lagoons the concentration of solids and dissolved oxygen are maintained fairly uniform and neither the incoming solids nor the biomass of microorganisms settle. In facultative lagoons the upper portions are maintained aerobic whereas the bottom undergoes anaerobic decomposition. The power input for aerobic lagoons is in the order of 2.56 W/m3 whereas it is 0.81 W/m3 for facultative lagoons (Gonzalez, 1996). With aerated lagoons approximately 9095% BOD5 removal efciency can be achieved for seafood processing wastewater (Carawan et al., 1979). 4.2.5. Integrated bioprocess Achour et al. (2000) used a biodegradation system to treat the concentrated liquid efuent from a tuna processing unit in Tuinisa. Both anaerobic and aerated bioreactors were used in the experi-ment. They used an up-ow anaerobic cylindrical xed bed reactorfor anaerobic digestion followed by an activated sludge bioreactor. The reported COD removal of anaerobic digestion was close to 50% with a production of about 0.25 m 3 CH4/kg degraded COD. The aer-ated treatment unit achieved 85% reduction of COD. The integrated system with physical pretreatment, anaerobic digester and aerated bioreactor achieved 95% COD removal. 4.2.6. Effect of salinity on aerobic process It is well known that high salinity of wastewater strongly inhib-its the aerobic biological treatment of wastewater. There are nega-tive effects on aerobic treatment if the chloride concentrations are above 50008000 mg/L. In spite of this fact, good performance of activated sludge system has been reported by Doudoroff (1940) and Pillai and Rajagopalan (1948). Stewart et al. (1962) reported considerable BOD 5 reduction due to the combined effect of high salinity and high organic loading. In another study Kincannon and Gaudy (1968) observed that due to rapid change in salinity sol-uble COD was increased by the release of cellular material. 5. Discussion With an increasing demand of processed sh products over the world, the wastewater load from the sh processing sector is also increasing. Fish processing wastewater mainly contains organic contaminants in soluble, colloidal and particulate form. The organ-ic content may be very high such as 12006000 mg/L of BOD5 and 300010000 mg/L of COD (e.g., herring processing) or even low like 700 mg/L of BOD 5 and 1600 mg/L of COD (e.g., tuna processing) depending on the sh composition and the operating process. Nitrogen and phosphorus are present in sh processing wastewater in minor quantity but the suspended solids are quite high (20003000 mg/L). Fresh water consumption is too high in sh processing operations which can be reduced by applying efcient water use strategy. Efcient water use strategies can be

identied by rst analyzing the water use patterns in the processing unit, identifying wasteful practices and by determining optimum water consumption rate for individual unit processes. Based on the infor-mation collected, water reuse options can be considered without compromising the product quality and hygiene. Although water reuse is a good option for water conservation, it is sometimes not acceptable due to public health issues. The quality of the sh-pro-cessing efuents can be improved by reducing contact between process water and the product and ensuring high quality of the raw materials (Jacques Whitford, 2007). In terms of wastewater treatment, several anaerobic and aero-bic processes were studied by a number of authors. Since the wastewater contains biodegradable organic matter, the potential for a net production of energy in the form of biogas is high. Hence anaerobic treatment is an attractive option. Attached growth processes such as anaerobic uidized bed (AFB) reactor can achieve more than 80% COD removal and it can be operated at high salt concentration. AFB reactor is also an economically favorable op-tion. Anaerobic lter (AF) provides good COD removal; its biodeg-radation and biogas production clearly depends on organic loading rates (OLR). A high rate anaerobic treatment system such as a UASB reactor is a promising treatment option for sh processing waste-water. More than 90% COD removal can be achieved in such a sys-tem. System pH, OLR, total ammonia content and wastewater salinity are major factors that inuence the reactor efciency. In a sh-processing industry extended aeration type activated sludge processes are used because of higher oxygen requirement compared to other food processing wastewaters. A multi stage RBC is a better treatment process than an activated sludge system in terms of stability, MLVSS content and energy requirement. Trickling lters are rarely used for sh processing wastewater. An integrated design using anaerobic digestion followed by an aer-obic system would yield better treatment efciency with less en-ergy consumption and reduced sludge production.

6. Summary The common processes that contribute to the wastewater gen-eration during sh processing are drying, fermenting, canning and smoking. Fish processing wastewaters are characterized by high BOD5 (1003000 mg/L), COD (100018000 mg/L) and nitrogen content (801000 mg/L). More than 80% COD removal can be achieved with anaerobic xed lter (AF) and anaerobic uidized bed (AFB) reactor. Both organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) have inuence on COD removal. A UASB reac-tor is also of advantage which provides 8095% COD removal. Lipid and carbohydrate content of sh, greatly affects the wastewater treatment efciency. The optimum pH is 7.38.2 and optimum N-FA (nitrogen as free ammonia) is 25140 mg/L for mesophilic treatment. High salinity (>10 g/L Na +) affects methenogenesis;salinity effect can be compensated using marine inoculums.Fish processing wastewater can be treated by an activated sludge extended aeration

process. Aeration rate, F/M ratio, temper-ature and sludge retention time are important parameters for acti-vated sludge system performance. A multistage RBC reactor is suitable for treatment of sh processing wastewater and it is better than an activated sludge system providing 8598% COD removal.Aerated lagoons provide 95% BOD5 removal. An integrated bioproc-ess with physical pretreatment, anaerobic digester and aerated bioreactor could provide 95% COD removal efciency