Norway is the largest seafood exporter in the world. The seafood industry represents one of Norway’s largest export industries, with a total export value exceeding 15 billion EUR in 2024. Every day, all year round, approximately 36 million meals are prepared with origin from the Norwegian seafood industry. Norway exports farmed and wild fish to more than 150 countries.

Marine residual raw material (blood, cut offs, skin, viscera, heads, back bones etc.), constitutes an important value-creating resource generated from the Norwegian seafood industry. Today, most of the residual material are utilised. Nevertheless, there is still a potential to increase rate of utilisation. Cod (Gadus Morhua) and other species within the cod family, is the main species harvested in Norway, but it is also the less exploited. Both the players in the seafood sector and the R&D environment, have an increasing focus on finding sustainable solutions to increase utilisation. Every year SINTEF conduct a survey which gives and overview of total quantities of residual raw material generated, where it arises and how it is utilised. This has become a powerful decision support tool for what is known as the marine ingredients industry in Norway. The aim is to provide an overview of the availability of, and which product flows arise from, marine residual raw materials.

In 2024 a total of approximately 1 mill ton of rest raw material. From this, just above 860 000 ton were exploited fully. There has been a tremendous increase over the last decade. Among products based on biomass from residual raw materials from the seafood industry are pet-food, animal feed, protein rich products and fish oil. To further increase the value creation and fully exploit the potential which lays in the biomass, a lot of R&D are conducted, specially related to products that are prepared for nutritional health marked and pharma. Among products omega-3 products should be mentioned.

This presentation will give an overview of how the Norwegian marine ingredient industry are innovating and how the industry even can increase the utilisation of unexploited biomass, to create more value.