Last week, the fisheries and aquaculture community gathered in Kópavogur for IceFish 2026. Across three days, the exhibition brought companies from Iceland and abroad together to showcase equipment, technologies, products and new ideas for the seafood sector.
Alongside the exhibition, this year’s conference programme began with Aquaculture: Driving Sustainable Growth on 22 September, followed by the 100% Fish for Profit Conference on 23 and 24 September.
For us at the Iceland Ocean Cluster, these three days offered a chance to meet old and new friends, hear what is happening across the seafood world, and see how ideas around full utilisation are taking root in very different places.
100% Fish around the world
The 100% Fish for Profit Conference brought together companies, researchers, entrepreneurs and organisations from Europe, North America, the Middle East and the Pacific. The programme moved from processing technologies and commercialisation to marine bioproducts, new businesses and regional approaches to full utilisation.
The stories came from very different places. We heard how the Great Lakes region now finds productive uses for more than 90% of its commercial catch, how companies and researchers in the Netherlands are building a collaborative ecosystem around seafood side streams, and how a small business in Oregon used local partnerships and shared resources to make better use of fish.
We also saw how diverse the products themselves can be. In Alaska, fish skins and oils are becoming pet treats, creams and even food for people. The Norwegian startup Havdis is working with fish milt to develop bioactives for skincare and wound care. Researchers from Denmark and Royal Greenland are using shrimp side streams, while other speakers explored opportunities in biomaterials, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
These examples showed how far the conversation has moved beyond simply reducing waste. The question is increasingly how every part of the organism can become useful, and how that use can create lasting economic value.
Ocean clusters meet in Reykjavík
The week was about more than the exhibition and conferences. We also welcomed representatives from more than a dozen of ocean clusters to the Iceland Ocean Cluster for a gathering of the sister ocean cluster network.
It had been two years since many of the clusters had met. Each came with its own story and local context. The Danish Ocean Cluster presented its 100% Flow approach, which connects companies and other actors so that side streams, resources and infrastructure can be shared and used more fully. Other clusters shared work taking place across Europe, North America and the Pacific.
We were honoured to welcome President of Iceland Halla Tómasdóttir to the gathering. She spoke about the value of international dialogue, collaboration between sister ocean clusters and educating younger generations about the opportunities and responsibilities connected to our oceans.
The gathering also marked a new connection between Iceland and Mexico. During the week, the Iceland Ocean Cluster, COMEPESCA and CAAI signed an MOU to strengthen knowledge exchange between the two countries, develop work around full seafood utilisation and support the foundations of a Mexico Ocean Cluster.
Coming home with new ideas
Three days at IceFish offered a remarkable view of how much is happening across the seafood world.
Some solutions were already operating at industrial scale. Others were still being tested in laboratories, small businesses or young startups. Some involved sophisticated biotechnology. Others began with something much simpler: noticing that a resource was being overlooked and finding someone else who could use it.
The 100% Fish for Profit programme set out to highlight practical solutions, collaboration and models that can travel between companies and regions. That was also what made the week so inspiring. People came to Iceland from very different corners of the world, carrying different experiences and ideas, but asking many of the same questions about how we can make better use of what the ocean already gives us.
