A Newport, Oregon restaurant and seafood company has launched its own program to sustainably use every part of the fish they serve. They call it 100% Fish. Instead of discarding the fish waste they’ve begun to make dog treats from fish skin and cat treats from fish jerky. They are also creating bone broths and marine nutrient plant spray.
It’s a systems approach: take a $12 cod and turn it into $4,800 of economic value by refusing to throw anything away, the site said. “By upcycling parts that were once discarded into high-quality consumer products, we’re building new opportunities on the Oregon Coast—supporting local fishing families and creating year-round jobs in a seasonal industry. We’re transforming 100,000 pounds of catch into full-circle value.”
Once they’ve used what they need for the restaurant, Local Ocean flash freezes the skins, bones, collars, heads, and scrape meat for upcycling. While tackling manufacturing at scale would have been overwhelming, instead, the company uses a shared space and equipment at Yaquina Lab, a local food web lab, rather than having its own manufacturing facility. Its commercial-scale food processing capabilities include stainless steel tables, deep sinks, freezers, refrigerators, ovens, dehydrators, administrative offices, and cooking and packaging equipment and spaces.
Local Ocean is owned by the Local Ocean Stewardship Trust, a form of employee ownership that ensures that the company will forever source directly from local fishers and showcase local species. It also aims to ensure that Local Ocean operates for the benefit of its employees, fishers, and community; and that the value Local Ocean generates is shared back with everyone who brings value through our practices and profits.
The founders say they have relationships in the local fishing community that go back generations. And they were inspired by the Iceland Ocean Cluster that formed in 2012. A decade later, the Oregon Coast Visitors Association founded the Oregon Ocean Cluster with money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Oregon cluster is one of five in the United States and one of twelve established worldwide.
