While we don’t often feature biology-related hacks like this, out-of-the-box thinking like this is an important way to continue to challenge old ideas, leave less of a footprint, improve human lives, and potentially create a profitable enterprise on top of all of that.

The heads and bones of fish can be dried and made into soups, and other parts of fish can be turned into things like Omega-3 capsules and dog treats. Famously, cod skin has been recently found to work as skin grafts for humans, while the skin from salmon has been made into a leather-type product and the shells of crustaceans like shrimp can be made into medicine.

But as the 100% Fish Project is learning, there are plenty of uses for these parts of the fish as well. Some might use a portion of this waste for fertilizer in a garden, but otherwise it is simply thrown out. But as the oceans warm and fisheries continue to be harvested unsustainably, Iceland has been looking for a way to make sure that the fish they do catch are put to the fullest use, for obvious things like food and for plenty of other novel uses as well as they work towards using 100% of their catch.Īfter harvesting fish for food, most amateur fishers will discard around 60% of the fish by weight. This is perhaps not surprising as it’s an isolated island surrounded by ocean near the Arctic circle. For hundreds of years, Icelanders have relied on the ocean for survival.

Biggest fish caught on fishing planet