What's happening: Baraga-based First Catch LLC has signed the “100% Great Lakes Fish Pledge," publicly committing to using 100 percent of each commercially caught Great Lakes fish productively by 2025. As part of the pledge, First Catch LLC will explore and implement innovative applications for fish byproducts including fertilizer, protein, marine collagen, leather, and other new, high-value products.
About the pledge: The pledge is part of the 100% Great Lakes Fish initiative created by the Conference of Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers (GSGP), an organization representing the governors of the Great Lakes states and the Canadian Premiers of Ontario and Québec.
The Great Lakes are home to a sizeable commercial fishery, but only the fillets of these fish are usually eaten while the remaining 60 percent of the fish is relegated to inexpensive animal feed or discarded. Some initial studies in the United States determined that the value of a whitefish could jump from $12 when used only for filets to nearly $4,000 when 100 percent is used for various applications.
What they're saying: “I'm excited to explore other options to eliminate the waste produced with commercial fishing,” said Paul Smith, owner of First Catch LLC. “As an indigenous business owner, the environment is always a concern. Currently, most of our waste is used to fertilizer for our community garden, while some of it we use as a snack for our personal flock of ducks and chickens."
Background: The project and pledge are the first of its kind in the region. They build on the successful experience with the cod in Iceland and with other species elsewhere globally. Iceland pioneered the “100% fish” strategy and the utilization rate of the Icelandic cod’s biomass has increased from 40 percent, when utilization was almost exclusively filets to eat, to more than 90 percent, including high-value byproducts, such as skin and collagen, that are processed into a variety of food and non-food products, raising the value of each fish.
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