What if the future of seafood sustainability starts with everything we leave behind? Across global seafood systems, fish skins, heads, frames, roe, and other processing leftovers are often treated as low-value material or discarded entirely. Yet growing interest in full utilization is challenging long-held assumptions about seafood waste and creating opportunities that extend well beyond the plate.

Dallas Abel’s work sits at the intersection of fisheries, circular economy thinking, conservation, and product innovation. Drawing from experience as a fisheries observer and later through New Zealand’s Kai Ika initiative, his work explores how overlooked parts of the fish can become valuable resources for communities, education, and entirely new product categories—including fish leather. The conversation highlights how greater utilization can strengthen seafood system resilience, reduce waste, create economic opportunity, and encourage a broader cultural shift toward valuing the whole fish.

• Dallas Abel — Founder, Ofishal Leather

• Fisheries observation and insights into seafood processing practices
• Seafood waste and opportunities for full fish utilization
• The origins and growth of the Kai Ika community redistribution model
• Cultural perspectives on consuming different parts of the fish
• Fish leather production and the tanning process
• Comparing traditional and vegetable tanning approaches
• Selecting fish species based on leather performance and aesthetics
• Circular economy innovation within seafood systems
• Consumer perceptions of seafood byproducts and waste
• Conservation through value creation and resource efficiency

• Significant portions of harvested fish remain underutilized across seafood supply chains.
• Whole fish utilization can create environmental, social, and economic benefits simultaneously.
• Fish skins can become durable premium materials through established leather-making techniques.
• Cultural food traditions offer valuable lessons in reducing seafood waste.
• Innovation in seafood often begins by rethinking existing resources rather than harvesting more.
• Creating more value per fish may help reduce pressure on fisheries over time.
• Education and storytelling play an important role in changing consumer behavior.

Ofishal Leather:

• Instagram: @ofishal_leather
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

Global Seafood Alliance:

Website!: https://www.globalseafood.org/podcast

Follow us on social media!

Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram

Share your sustainability tips with us podcast@globalseafood.org!

If you want to be more involved in the work that we do, become a member of the Global Seafood Alliance: https://www.globalseafood.org/membership/

The views expressed by external guests on Aquademia are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Aquademia or the Global Seafood Alliance. Listeners are advised to independently verify information and consult experts for any specific advice or decisions.

Bivalve aquaculture is increasingly being explored not only as a source of sustainable seafood, but also as part of a broader conversation about ecosystem services and coastal resilience. Emerging research in the United Kingdom is helping quantify how shellfish species such as mussels, oysters and clams remove nutrients from marine environments through natural biological processes, creating opportunities to better understand aquaculture’s role in supporting water quality and environmental management.

At the same time, this work emphasizes the importance of realism and balance. Nutrient removal through shellfish farming is not a replacement for traditional water treatment or a universal solution to eutrophication, but it may become one tool within a larger portfolio of approaches. The discussion explores how science, industry, policymakers and growers can collaborate to better measure environmental outcomes while continuing to strengthen seafood production, ecosystem health and long-term resilience.

• Konstancja Woźniacka — Policy Advisor (Bivalves), Seafish

• Understanding ecosystem services in seafood production
• How bivalves naturally remove nutrients from coastal waters
• The relationship between eutrophication and marine ecosystem health
• Quantifying environmental benefits in shellfish aquaculture
• Differences in nutrient removal across species and farming methods
• Environmental and economic approaches to valuing nutrient removal
• Lessons from nutrient credit and ecosystem service programs
• Challenges to scaling environmental outcomes in shellfish farming
• The importance of localized research and environmental conditions
• Building public awareness around the broader value of seafood systems

• Shellfish aquaculture can provide benefits beyond food production.
• Bivalves improve water quality through natural filter-feeding processes.
• Nutrient removal performance varies by species, location and cultivation method.
• Ecosystem services require careful measurement to avoid oversimplification.
• Environmental value and commercial viability must remain aligned.
• Collaboration across industry, science and policy is essential.
• Incremental solutions can still make meaningful contributions to marine health.

• Seafish Website
• Chesapeake Bay nutrient management and oyster restoration initiatives

Check out our website!: https://www.globalseafood.org/podcast

Follow us on social media!

Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram

If you want to be more involved in the work that we do, become a member of the Global Seafood Alliance: https://www.globalseafood.org/membership/

The views expressed by external guests on Aquademia are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Aquademia or the Global Seafood Alliance. Listeners are advised to independently verify information and consult experts for any specific advice or decisions.