The purpose of this study was to characterise extensively, and process fishbone derived and shellfish mineral powders, followed by the investigation of potential applications for these materials. A variety of spectroscopic, microscopic and analytical techniques were used in this study, including FT-IR, SS-NMR, pXRD, SEM, ICP-MS, and laser diffraction particle sizing. These techniques enabled tracking of changes in the chemical and physical nature of the materials as a function of processing techniques. The potential applications covered in this study were the investigation of the immobilisation of the enzyme malL to bone materials with the aid of a coupling reagent, as well as investigations into the removal of various ionic species from aqueous water samples. Differences in the mineral components of the materials between species were insignificant. Slight variations were found in the organic component of the bone materials, however these were most likely due to varying levels of oils remaining in the materials after processing by Plant and Food, Nelson, as the organic matter was found to be primarily composed of collagen in all species. Thermally treating the bone samples to 800 oC was found to be the most effective and reliable method for removing the organic content from the bone materials. Synthetic HAp powders were successfully produced through the digestion and reprecipitation of bone-derived materials and an optimum method to produce these powders was devised. Promising yet unexpected results were found in the enzyme immobilisation studies, results suggest that there is the potential for some enzymes to be bound to the bone materials, however more thorough investigations are required to understand the complex system. Promising results were also found from the adsorption experiments involving ionic species. The species trialled were Ni²⁺, Cd²⁺, Sr²⁺, AsO₄³⁻ and F⁻. Bone materials heated to 500 oC were consistently the most effective material for adsorption of the divalent metal cation species trialled. Adsorptions between this material and the divalent nickel and cadmium ions were found to follow pseudo second order kinetics, with Langmuir type isotherm behaviour. Fluoride adsorptions were also found to have a Langmuir type isotherm however the adsorption kinetics of this system were not investigated. Overall the results from this study outline a few potential applications, which if investigated and developed further could add significant value to materials which are currently produced in high volumes as waste by-products from the fishing industry in New Zealand.