Anthropogenic factors have led to numerous ecological concerns over the past few decades. These include, but are not limited to, climate change, biodiversity loss, water, soil, and air pollution, as well as pressures on food and energy resources. Therefore, implementing a sustainable and circular bioeconomy is crucial to address these threats. Recent projections indicate that the global population may increase to approximately 8.5 billion by 2030 and reach 9.7 billion by 2050, with a peak of around 10.4 billion in the 2080s. This population increase has raised worldwide concerns about food, water, energy, and raw materials for industries.

The circular bioeconomy is gaining momentum as a sustainable solution to meet the growing demand. Today, both academia and industry recognize the potential of aquatic biotechnology to play a key role in the circular bioeconomy, as aquatic ecosystems are still considered largely untapped environments. Aquatic biotechnology integrates science and engineering to harness benefits from aquatic organisms and their products, contributing to advancements in aquaculture, food safety, microbiology, metagenomics, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals, biomaterials, biomineralization, biofouling, and bioenergy.

Aquatic biotechnology, with its eco-based and sustainable bioprocess systems, aligns with several of the Sustainable Development Goals and offers innovative technical and business solutions. This collection will gather recent advances of aquatic biotechnology applications in the circular bioeconomy era.