A workshop- ‘Building a sustainable seafood sector through collaboration’ attracted a diverse range of participants at the University of Stirling on Friday January 19th 2023

Convened by IbiolC and Seafood Scotland in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, Opportunity Northeast and the Institute of Aquaculture, the key focus of the event was how innovation approaches could energise the value addition of byproducts and wastes in the seafood sector. Alexandra Leeper of the Icelandic Seafood Cluster set out the background to the origins of their initiative and told the story of how this fish rich nation had transformed its seafood sector in recent years with a central element being optimising value by recovery and value add to waste. Concerted efforts had stimulated what was a conservative industry to dramatically reduce waste through the credo of ‘use the whole fish’ …resulting in enviable results. Since its inception the hub had grown from accommodating ten start-ups to now more than sixty companies using space and generating value.

The setting up of the ‘Ocean Cluster house’, a social-cultural space based in the heart of the harbour appears to be have been critical to the success of the ISC- the outcome of the founder Dr Thor Sigfasson’s PhD. A physical space where start-ups could be based at low cost and shared area for socialising and ideas exchange was designed in –no individual coffee machines and glass walls to encourage networking. Supporting the culture of start-ups has taken many forms including regular ‘pitch nights’ where failures are shared and lessons learnt. The hub has chosen to reach out to draw in external disciplines and interests critical to innovations in the seafood sector. Of course innovation hubs have a strong track record in other sectors notably software and technology in other parts of the World.

Food for thought for the UK stakeholders at the workshop was how to how to harness the incredible diversity present. Some represented mainstream seafood processors and others in the value chain eager to learn how they could leverage more research and development support. But others ranging from innovative potato farmers already trying crustacean-derived chitin to improve harvest and revitalise soils, to anaerobic digestor designers keen to improve salmon waste treatment were there to network and share ideas.

The day included short presentations from projects mapping waste, extracting valuable n-3 oils from farmed salmon processing wastes and an overview of Zero Waste Scotland. The Institute’s Wesley Malcorps presented his work on the farmed fish byproduct nutrient resource and its critical relationship to traceability through using block-chain approaches.

The day concluded after participants brainstormed how connectivity in the Scottish and broader UK context could be improved, the type of incentives for industry, academia and innovation communities to come together and how this might be funded. Also very timely given the recent City and Regional Deal funding to support a National Aquaculture Innovation and Technology Hub (NATIH) at the heart of the Institute of Aquaculture with a similar mandate to do this for aquaculture as a sector. Arguably Stirling and environs already has a strong cluster of enterprises and a knowledge base that can be built on to unlock potential and a strong recommendation would be to prioritise developing strong relationships with Iceland and other emerging seafood clusters around the World.