Speakers covered a range of opportunities in growing sector
The 100% Fish for Profit Webinar provided an exclusive preview into some of the key themes that will shape the 100% Fish for Profit Conference in Iceland this September.
Moderated by Dr Alexandra Leeper, CEO of the Iceland Ocean Cluster which supported the webinar, the presentation attracted viewers from as far afield as New Zealand and Australia, as well as Namibia, Sri Lanka, Newfoundland and Europe.
Introducing the preview, Dr Leeper highlighted data released by the World Economic Forum in 2024 that estimated the global waste of edible quality aquatic biomass amounted to more than 23 million metric tonnes.
“And that’s not only hugely environmentally impactful, but it also means that communities and businesses are missing out on the economic opportunity in that untapped material, the potential value that can be captured from this biomass,” she said.
In Iceland, she added, there had been a huge focus on finding sustainable and value creating ways to use every part of the fish, notably cod, not just the fillet which accounted for only about 45% of every fish. The result across the blue economy was that the value of a single Icelandic cod had increased from about $12 U.S. to a potential $5000.
“It’s meant the development of a whole new set of sectors and innovations and technologies and value chains, from everything from fish meal and feeds and fertiliser, and beyond that into textiles and cosmetic products, even nutritional supplements, clinical products, and even biomedical products like skin grafts.”
A specific example of this came later in the webinar from Benedek Regoczi, whose work as an innovation project manager at the IOC inspired him to co-found Havdis AS, a Norwegian biotechnology startup.
He told the webinar that Havdis had developed a cod-derived cream that was helping to treat people suffering from acute and chronic wounds – a “silent epidemic” impacting approximately two million people in Europe alone.
“This solution is called PDRN and you can think of it as a biological alarm clock, waking up your own cells to repair themselves. Injected or applied as a cream, it increases blood flow, accelerates tissue repair and reduces inflammation,” he said.
“And exactly because of these positive benefits, the global demand for PDRN continues to grow and it is actually one of the most sought-after ingredients in clinical wound care right now with a global compound annual growth rate of 16.4%.”
Operating in a different area, María Dís Ólafsdóttir, the co-founder, co-owner and creative force behind fish leather manufacturer Nanna Lín, highlighted some of the problems facing start-ups in the sector as they tried to scale-up.
A possible solution was offered by the following speaker Runar Gjerp Solstad, Senior Scientist Marine Biotechnology at Nofima, the Norwegian food research institute which operates a flexible fish pilot plant to test new equipment or processing methods on a smaller, commercial-like scale before heavy financial investments.
The webinar also heard live 100% Fish for Profit Conference teaser presentations from Donna Fordyce, Chief Executive at Seafood Scotland, Ben Perry, the Head of Sales at Ace Aquatec, a Dundee-based welfare-first aquaculture technology company.
All those at the webinar will be at the main 100% Fish for Profit Conference event in Iceland 23-24 September 2026.
For more information and to book your delegate pass, visit the IceFish Conferences website here
