Developing a new market for Alaska salmon processing byproducts and feeding the hungry are the primary goals of an initiative that aims to garner nearly USD 400,000 (EUR 346,464) in federal funding.
The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF) and the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) are partnering to conduct market research on a salmon protein powder made from fish waste. Already, two European companies are commercially producing salmon protein powder — one that is human-grade and one that is animal grade.
The two groups have requested USD 375,000 (324,810 EURO) in funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) via the Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant and will receive the remaining USD 125,000 (EUR 108,270) from ASMI’s Global Food Aid program.
They plan to manufacture 5,000 pounds of salmon protein powder from fish waste, and then conduct research on the acceptability of salmon protein powder for Global Food Aid in two countries. They expect to hear whether or not the NOAA funding was approved by this summer.
Diversification of markets is one of the key reasons the groups want to manufacture the powder, according to Julie Decker, executive director of AFDF.
“If you have everything going into one market or one product, you are very vulnerable,” Decker told SeafoodSource. “That was Alaska’s big problem back when the majority of Alaska salmon was going into a can, and then farmed salmon came along with nice fillets. The price for Alaska salmon dropped like a rock and it took about 15 years to recover. We learned something from that very difficult experience."
Also, Alaska salmon processors are looking for innovative ways to utilize more of their fish waste. Already, many of the larger processors have started using heads to produce salmon oil. Still, once oil is extracted from the heads, there is a remaining waste product that could be processed into powder. “That is one area we are going to target. We are not sure if we can make the right recipe out of it. We are trying to target a human-grade protein powder,” Decker said.
However, market research is needed in order to produce beneficial products from the massive amounts of salmon waste from Alaska’s commercial fisheries, the largest in North America, encompassing around 1.25 million metric tons (MT) annually, according to the USDA-ARS. Alaska’s salmon fisheries alone produce more than 200,000 MT of fish waste each year.
“Unutilized fish waste represents not only a missed economic opportunity, but EPA also considers it an environmental and health concern when fish waste is concentrated on the ocean floor,” Decker said.
And, importantly, human-grade salmon protein powder could easily be shipped to foreign countries to feed the hungry. “I think the demand would be fairly signficiant,” Decker said. “There are a lot of non-profit, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that work on feeding people in other countries. This would be a protein that is easy for them to distribute, that works in different cultures, doesn’t need to be refrigerated and is not heavy to transport.”
There are, of course, commercial implications for the powder as well. “We believe that, if we get the correct recipe down, we demonstrate that people like this and are using it and companies are starting to manufacture that particular recipe, they will naturally start to expand into other markets,” Decker said.
