Donna Fordyce, CEO of Seafood Scotland, has called on industry partners to back the creation of the Scottish ‘ocean cluster’ proposed last year at the international Responsible Seafood Summit held in St Andrews.

The aim of the cluster is to bring together partners and investors with very different skillsets and support them to work together to maximise the value of fish and fish byproducts, using 100% of fish landed into Scotland, with zero waste.

Donna Fordyce officially announced the establishment of the cluster at the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) Conference in Glasgow last week, where university laboratories, established biotech companies and new start-ups convened to exchange ideas and explore new commercial applications of the latest biotech research.

Seafood Scotland has partnered with IBioIC, Zero Waste Scotland, Opportunity North East and Aberdeenshire Council to work not just with biotech innovators, but with government, fish processors and private sector investors, to collectively unlock the full potential of new products made from fish processing ‘waste’ that currently goes to make fishmeal.

The aim is to emulate the success of the Iceland Ocean Cluster, aka ‘the Silicon Valley of cod’, which has supported the development of hugely successful companies in diverse areas ranging from processing cod skin for use in skin grafts to turning sea urchin byproducts into a new type of anti-fouling.

According to a recent report by Zero Waste Scotland, the current market value of the 166,000t
of fish ‘waste’ in Scotland is approximately £21.58m. Over two- thirds of this is from commercial fisheries, with the remainder from the salmon farming sector.

The Scottish cluster steering group estimates it could potentially treble the market value of this ‘waste’ in the space of just three years – small change compared to the £1bn that Icelandic cod skin graft company Keceris sold for, but a significant boost to create new jobs and increase profitability across the sector, and a stepping stone to more ambitious projects.

Donna Fordyce said: “Scotland is one of Europe’s largest seafood producers, and also boasts an innovative and fast-growing biotechnology sector. This gives us an exciting advantage.

“Bringing biotech expertise together with the innovators in the seafood industry – in the same way as the Iceland Ocean Cluster has done – has the potential to triple the value of Scotland’s seafood side-streams, by extracting even more value from the country’s fish and shellfish. By working together across the industry, we can improve food security, actively encourage innovation and high- value job creation, champion environmental sustainability and attract funding and investment to foster economic development in Scotland.

“In short, it could be game- changing for the sector, and the organisations at its heart. That’s why we’re calling on the backing of stakeholders across the industry – so we can secure the funding to progress with a Scottish ocean cluster that can realise and accelerate these ambitions, bring economic prosperity to our coastal rural fishing communities, and get ahead of any potential future challenges facing the industry.”

Alexandra Leeper, CEO of the Iceland Ocean Cluster, said: “Iceland Ocean Cluster is thrilled to see steps being taken to launch a Scottish ocean cluster, which we are keen to welcome as part of our global sister cluster network. Their leadership in working to bring ‘100% fish’ to life in a country with such a rich seafood heritage is a great example of doing more with less, and we look forward to working together.”

This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.50 here. 

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