uts. Bones. Heads and tails. An estimated 70 percent of a fish is leftover after filleting. Where some see trash, others see treasure: an opportunity to add value by turning waste into raw material.

Better than being dumped into harbors, rivers, or the ocean. “Environmental concerns associated with dumping of fish wastes into ocean waters include reduced oxygen levels in the seawaters at the ocean bottom; burial or smothering of living organisms; and introduction of disease or non-native and invasive species to the ecosystem of the sea floor,” according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Lauren Howard, policy coordinator for the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, says the seafood industry is aware of the problem and is working on it.

“Seafood processors are allowed a certain amount of dumping waste,” she says. “Some processors have gut boats that have to go out to certain locations.”

To reclaim the undumped portion, businesses in Alaska are developing products from dog treats to biofuel, and new ideas hold promise for even more utilization of discards.

Plant food doesn’t care how ugly fish scraps are. Anchorage-based Alaska Salmon Fertilizer markets directly to gardeners and greenhouses with a soil amendment manufactured from Kenai River castoffs. The company is going up against a big Alaska brand: literally, Alaska Brand Fish Fertilizer, a division of California-based Central Garden & Pet Company.

Its major competitor on garden center shelves traces its origins to Cape Cod Bay, where Tisquantum taught the Plymouth colonists how to set fish in the ground to grow corn. In Gloucester, Massachusetts, the oldest working seaport in the country, Neptune’s Harvest Fertilizer division was the brainchild of Anthony Parco Sr., founder of Ocean Crest Seafoods and Neptune’s Harvest Fertilizer in 1965.

Parco didn’t like how much fish was being thrown away, but he saw an opportunity.

“Why can’t we use it all,” his daughter Ann Molloy remembers Parco asking.

“The seafood processor in Gloucester that took the fish remains after the fillet [a.k.a. gurry] had been removed closed in the ‘80s,” says Molloy. “At that point we were paying fishermen to take the gurry out to sea and dump it. That part is 60 to 70 percent of the fish!”

Molloy recalls that fisheries were also being squeezed by harvest limits at the time. “My dad said we knew if we were going to keep everyone employed, we’d have to do something,” she says.

That something began with liquid fish for farms, then gardens, and now the company has a total of thirteen products, some liquid and others powdered, and even a bug spray.

At first, the waste came from the company’s own plant and others in Gloucester, but as the company grew, it began to transport waste from other fishing locations, such as the country’s largest fishing port, down south in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Largest port by value landed, that is. Surpassing New Bedford in sheer volume is Dutch Harbor. Yet the remoteness poses an obstacle for longliners and other commercial harvesters centered in Unalaska that might wish to utilize every ounce of the catch. Howard, as others do, points to the problems of shipping costs and a need for more production space for successful waste upcycling ventures.

Thus, she says, “We’re looking for opportunities for secondary products and composting on a large scale.”

Craig Kasberg and Zach Wilkinson met in Juneau at the end of 2014, when friend John Foss introduced them saying, “Zach is the only other person I’ve heard talk about chitosan.”

Chitosan is a refined derivative of chitin, the long-chain sugar that gives structure to the cell walls of fungi and the exoskeletons of crustaceans and insects. That makes chitin the second most abundant biopolymer on Earth—second only to cellulose in plant fibers.

Born and raised in Alaska, Kasberg read a lot of chemistry, biochemistry, and seafood byproducts books on his commercial fishing boat, and he thought about the vast possibilities of chitosan. Together with Wilkinson, Kasberg founded Tidal Vision to process discarded crab and shrimp shells into biodegradable chemistries for water treatment, agriculture, and material science industries.

Tidal Vision is based in Bellingham, Washington. Kasberg says, “We could never have got this business off the ground in Alaska, unfortunately.” Being in Washington put the company closer to more efficient shipping choices and other resources that Tidal Vision needed to launch.

“This year we are on track for $90 million in revenue,” Kasberg says. “We have facilities in six states and are currently building another production facility in Europe, and [we] have over 310 full-time employees and are growing almost 100 percent, year over year.”

Chitofining is the world’s first-ever zero-waste process for chitosan extraction, which is the process used to extract the chitosan that is then further processed into Tidal Vision’s final products. Those products replace synthetic chemicals like non-biodegradable polymers, flame retardants, and excess pesticides and commercial fertilizers.

The Tidal Grow AgriScience bioactive technology provides natural plant nutrition and crop protection products, resulting in less runoff of excess nutrients and pesticides, a lower carbon footprint, and improved soil health. Tidal Clear Water Science solutions directly remove pollutants from contaminated water. Tidal Tec Biomaterial Science creates films, bioplastics, membranes, and non-toxic flame retardants out of chitosan.

The proteins and minerals from the shells leftover after chitofining don’t go to waste; they are turned into an organic fertilizer ingredient.

“From what I’ve seen, it takes a lot of focused, deep-science resources to build the future for any biomaterial, and someone had to do that for people to realize and benefit from chitosan’s potential,” Kasberg says.

For many years, fish waste has been made into fish meal, a high-protein feed ingredient used in aquaculture and livestock feed, and more recently fish oil has found a place as a nutritional supplement for human consumption.

A major seafood producer in Alaska, Trident Seafoods does byproduct recovery, particularly for fish oil and hydrolysate, fish ground up to a liquid paste. It also produces surimi in Alaska—a processed seafood product, essentially a fish paste, often made from pollock or whiting, that is flavored, shaped, and sometimes colored to resemble types of shellfish and then sent to market. If you’ve eaten imitation crab salad or a California roll, you’ve eaten surimi.

In 2023, the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska bought Alaska Seafood Company and its Juneau facility. The company handmakes its Alaska Wild Things Pet Treats with 95 percent salmon waste from filleting and 5 percent white rice, which is then lightly smoked and cooked.

Then there’s the skin. “Fish skins are versatile—good for pets, human health, and so much more,” says Sara Erickson, founder of AlaSkins. Erickson grew up commercial fishing in Bristol Bay and Cook Inlet, where she saw fish byproducts like skins discarded as waste.

“Canneries and processing plants often dump fish skins into oceans, bays, rivers, or landfills, or process them into low-value fishmeal or bonemeal,” she says. “That inspired me to create something valuable from what others saw as waste.”

Since 2017, AlaSkins has diverted nearly 42 tons of wild Alaska salmon, halibut, and cod skins away from landfills, transforming them into premium, single-ingredient pet treats rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins. Operating from a Soldotna processing plant that meets Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point and US Food and Drug Administration standards for human-grade products, AlaSkins also produces halibut oil and canned halibut, embodying a 100 percent fish utilization model. With nearly $1 million in sales since 2020, AlaSkins sells products online and in nearly 100 Alaska stores.

Erickson’s passion for sustainability drives her mission to reduce waste while creating economic opportunities. As a recognized leader in the 100 percent fish movement, she speaks globally, from webinars such as Fish Waste for Profit in Iceland to enrichment talks on Princess and Royal Caribbean cruise ships. Her work has inspired fisheries worldwide, from the United Kingdom to Africa and the Great Lakes region.

To engage Alaska’s next generation, Erickson created Blue Salmon: 100 Percent Fish – The Blue Economy Challenge, a board game used in day camps for kids, including the local Kenaitze Indian Tribe and school classes across the Kenai Peninsula, teaching kids about zero-waste fisheries and economic innovation.

“I want kids to see they can build a future in Alaska using our natural resources sustainably,” she says.

Blue salmon, also known as blueback salmon but more commonly called sockeye or red salmon, is considered central to the Kenaitze culture and identity.

Erickson also draws inspiration from global innovations, like Iceland’s Kerecis, which develops, manufactures, and sells fish-skin soft tissue-regeneration products for medical grafts to heal burns and wounds. The products have regulatory approval in the United States and Europe.

AlaSkins collaborates with commercial processing plants, retailers, and recently with Salmon Sisters, the Homer-based fish and specialty merchandise retailer, to amplify its impact, proving waste reduction can drive profit and environmental stewardship.

Yet Erickson sees more untapped potential in Alaska. She says, “We’ve relied on outside businesses to boost our economy, but we can lead the way ourselves.”