Richard,
Often times the most cost effective way to use small quantities of fish or
shellfish waste is to compost it with wood waste or some other bulking
material (carbon source). In the US there is a good market for such products
to be used as soil conditioners (and fertilizer) in organic farming.
Information on references for seafood waste utilization can be found on
SeafoodNIC at:
http://seafood.ucdavis.edu/pubs/compost.htm
The biggest problem in my area is finding a suitable site which meets
environmental codes. Home gardeners are willing to pay 4 to 5 dollars US for
a one cubic foot bag of fish compost. That means a ton of fish waste creates
more value as compost than it does as fish meal or liquid fish fertilizer
(which is another alternative to silage). And composting needs far less
capital investment than does meal or liquid production.
Contact me privately if you'd like to have the name and address of someone
who has been doing it successfully for about 10 years.
Kenneth S. Hilderbrand Jr.
Seafood Processing Specialist
Sea Grant Extension Program
Oregon State Univ. Marine Science Center
2030 Sth Marine Science Drive
Newport, Oregon 97365-5296 USA
phone: 541 867-0242
fax: 541 867-0138
email: <ken.hilderbrand@hmsc.orst.edu>
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu]On
Behalf Of Richard Chivers
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2000 4:43 AM
To: seafood
Subject: Fish silage
Here in the UK our processors are getting used to the idea that they have
to pay to dispose of waste fish material, rather than have it sent back to
sea. Often this is in relatively small quantities but on a daily basis. A
project in the SW of England is seeking ways to use the waste, one project
is looking at fish silage. In the past this has not taken off because the
end product is too heavy to retain a commercial value if transported around.
Does anyone know of either, a way in which small producers can use the
waste, rather than having it sent to costly industrial waste disposal
contractors or of any recent advances in fish silage perhaps on a small
scale, for example, are there any farm scale silage systems that would allow
the product to be manufactured where the end product could be fed to pigs
direct.
Thanks all.
Richard Chivers
Fisheries Consultant
Seafood Audit International
www.fishonline.co.uk
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