CCRI success: EcoeFISHent project creates valuable products from fishing waste
Published on 03.02.2025
The Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) Project ‘EcoeFISHent’ has successfully developed new, sustainable and high-value bioproducts from fishing waste materials, piloting new circular systemic solutions in the process. This project’s solutions are particularly relevant for coastal and seaside cities and regions, where the fishing industry plays a significant role.

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EcoeFISHent’s innovative systemic solution recycles waste from fishing to extract bio-active products and gelatine for use in food, biodegradable and compostable plastics for food packaging, fertilisers, and biodiesel, as well as applications in cosmetics.
The problem: fishing waste
Globally, it is estimated that between 7 and 10 million tonnes of commercial fisheries’ catches are discarded annually. And of the fish that is kept for the food industry, much of the by products like skin, bones and other bio-active products are wasted during processing and production of food products.
In addition, the fishing industry produces huge amounts of marine litter (also called ghost gear) every year that is not biodegradable, with almost half of the Pacific Ocean ‘great garbage patch’ made up of fishing gear.
To make use of these wasted fish byproducts and remove marine litter, the CCRI project EcoeFISHent has developed six circular value chains leading to eight high-value products.
The six Circular Value Chains
EcoeFISHent brings broad practical knowledge of the legal, administrative and logistical issues involved in waste management to the CCRI community.
By creating replicable circular value chains, which interconnect the blue- and green-economies, the project has demonstrated six circular systemic solutions that can be deployed to make Europe’s climate-neutral circular economy possible.
In doing so, EcoeFISHent also reduces the impact of wasteful industrial fishing activities, helping marine ecosystems and marine protected areas to recover.
We spoke to a project coordinator who explained the ‘symbiosis systemic approach’ that EcoeFISHent takes:
‘The EcoeFISHent model of actions is implemented to be exported and replicated in other contests, regions, countries and, possibly, for different organic matrices.
‘So far, the project has brought technical, economic and legal know-how to all project partner countries where fishing plays a key role in the economy. The project can bring its know-how to all the territories that focus on fisheries and/or have a very strong food production chain in the area and have to deal with the large production of organic waste.’
The solutions
From fish to food, packaging, soil and more
One of the EcoeFISHent’s solutions focuses on converting fishing and fish-industry co-products into food supplements, skin care products, compostable bioplastics and fertilisers.
The pilot projects use EcoeFISHent’s ‘Themis’ machines; dehydration plants used to upcycle organic fishing waste from tuna side streams to produce high value-added products.
The Themis machines work to convert solid and liquid residues from fish processing into a dry concentrated product and a reusable distillate called ‘Eco-FISH-powder’. These are high-value materials that can be used across innovative industries.
The Themis machines produce Eco-FISH-powder and gelatine, which can be used to make food supplements and biodegradable and compostable barrier polymers for food packaging.
Soon, the Themis machines will begin the pre-pilot activities, extracting and preparing products by handling large quantities of waste fish from aquaculture and fishing activities.
Other fishing and fish-industry side streams will be targeted to create fertilisers, biodiesel, components for cosmetic applications, polymer-based car parts, and packaging for products.
From fish to soil
This circular value chain aims to produce fertiliser for agricultural use, oil for biodiesel applications and chitin from any Eco-FISH-powder that is not used to create packaging, cosmetics or nutraceuticals.
To do this, fish waste will undergo ‘black soldier fly bioconversion’, which uses flies to convert organic waste into a protein and lipid-rich biomass.
This will yield innovative soil fertiliser, oil for biodiesel and chitin for cosmetic applications, all from a resource that would otherwise be wasted and is a cheap and natural way for coastal regions to deal with fishing waste.
From fishing nets to cars and packaging
EcoeFISHent aims to produce car components from ghost gear and aquaculture’s discarded nets.
End of life fishing nets will be recycled and converted into automotive polymer-based components. The solution will also produce packaging for food and cosmetic products food, giving purpose to discarded marine plastics.
EcoeFISHent’s plans reduce and recycle the plastic in the oceans, supporting the efforts of the European Green Deal and the Single-Use Plastics Directive, which target the single-use plastic products and fishing gear currently representing 70% of marine litter in the EU.
Replicating solutions in other cities and regions
The project is developing a Cluster Digital Twin to support the definition of the circular models. It will assist cities and regions with designing and implementing the solution optimally for their local challenges.
Adopting EcoeFISHent’s circular economy solutions with the help of the project’s Cluster Digital Twin can help cities and regions achieve several European Green Deal (EGD) objectives, such as reducing carbon emissions, promoting sustainable resource use, and enhancing biodiversity of ocean ecosystems.