A decision tool for full utilisation
Answer nine questions about what you catch, process or want to build. You'll get back the products that are realistic for your raw material, your budget and your timeline — and what each one actually requires before you can sell it.
Shares are rough averages for gutted Atlantic cod and move with species, season and cutting method. Use them to see the scale of the question, not to plan a budget.
Why this exists
Iceland went from using around 40% of a cod in 2003 to roughly 90% today. Nothing about that was inevitable — it came from separating fractions at the line and finding someone who wanted each one.
Many fishing nations still use only 40–60% of each fish. The rest goes back over the side or into low-value meal. That gap is the entire opportunity.
Icelandic cod landings fell sharply from their 1980s peak while export value per kilo multiplied. Full utilisation is how you grow inside a fixed quota.
Almost every high-value route needs the fraction separated, clean and cold within hours. Once heads, guts and frames go into one bin, you have fishmeal and nothing else.
Nine questions, about three minutes
Your playbook
How to read this. Fit scores compare each route against your raw material, budget, timeline and target markets. They are a shortlist, not a feasibility study — every route below has been built by someone, and every one of them has also failed for someone.
On the rules. Regulatory notes describe the EU/EEA framework, which applies in Iceland. Once a fish part is no longer intended for human consumption it becomes an animal by-product under Regulation (EC) 1069/2009, almost always Category 3, and must move on a commercial document to an approved establishment. Products can leave that framework at a defined "end point" and pass to food, feed, cosmetics or medical device law instead. Confirm your own case with your national competent authority — in Iceland, MAST.