ABSTRACT
Blue biotechnology is generally considered the use of marine bioresources as the source of biotechnological applications. Marine resources and marine organisms are used to develop products or services for biotechnological gain. Workshops and questionnaires were conducted in 2013 and 2014 in order to reach an agreement on a common understanding of the term marine biotechnology. An alternative method for defining the blue biotechnology sector is through analysis of current marine biotechnology stakeholders. Possible applications in marine pest control include techniques to assess the composition and dynamics of microbiomes. Microbiomes in different environments have been shown to change in population diversity and density as a function of changes in environmental conditions. The European Atlantic is in a good position to take full advantage of marine biotechnology potential. The lack of clear economic differentiation in blue biotechnology makes it difficult to find evidence for the stage of lifecycle that each associated sub-sector is in.
