Anguilla 
Antigua and Barbuda 
Grenada 
Bahamas 
Barbados 
Belize 
Dominica 
Guyana 
Haiti 
Jamaica 
Montserrat 
St. Kitts and Nevis 
St. Lucia 
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 
Suriname 
Trinidad and Tobago 
Turks and Caicos 
Driving the Circular Economy by Transforming Fish Offal (“fish waste”) through Processing: a Barbadian Case Study for Resource Optimization in the Caribbean Region
Omardath Maharaj1, Yvette Diei Ouadi2, and Phil Lashley3
Agribusiness Finance Consultant1 (FAO Subregional Office for the Caribbean), Fishery and Aquaculture Officer2 (FAO Subregional Office for the Caribbean), Executive Director3 (PLA Inc.)
ABSTRACT
Fish by-products constitute between 30–70 percent of fish after being processed into fillets and other edible products and were previously considered to be waste. In Barbados, approximately 5 tonnes of these fish parts are generated daily; the largest share of which is redirected to the landfill. The direct impacts include the environmental burden of the waste, since the decomposing offal produces abundant quantities of methane, a gas with an estimated 20 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide, thus contributing to climate change. Another major consideration is the continued demand for landfill space in circumstances of land scarcity within the context of SIDS. This waste is a missed opportunity for transforming the previously untapped raw materials into valuable food and silage-derived products (feed and fertilizer). These lost opportunities are increasingly important in a world with rising food, feed and fertilizer costs impacting farmers and consumers alike.
The FAO and partners from national and regional institutions have been working to optimize the recovery process of the fish waste while establishing the safety, comparative growth performance and cost efficiency of fish silage-derived feed relative to imported feed, and their cost efficiency. Awareness of this prompted the establishment of a national fish silage platform, leading to the integration of the fish waste utilization concept in the 2022-2030 Fisheries Policy of Barbados, capacity building of women fish processors, inclusion of small-scale farmers and investment for scaling up.
The pipeline support to the establishment of a national fish silage reference training centre, and incubator unit for young farmers would further widen the potential for expansion of this innovative approach. It holds promise for other countries in the Caribbean region, given that livestock feed importation and fish processing are common to all CARICOM countries. Creating new revenue streams, coupled with the environmental and social benefits of fish waste recovery, as compared to dumping, can contribute to the realization of the commitment of CARICOM to reduce the region’s large and unsustainable extra-regional food import bill by 25% by 2025 and is well aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
HOW TO CITE: Maharaj, O., Y. Diei Ouadi, and P. Lashley. 2025. Driving the Circular Economy by Transforming Fish Offal (“fish waste”) through Processing: a Barbadian Case Study for Resource Optimization in the Caribbean Region. Contribution 1.1, p1-13 IN CRFM, 2026. Volume I: Technical Papers. Presented at the CRFM 20th Anniversary Scientific Conference, 28-31 August 2023 . CRFM Special Publication No. 37, CRFM Secretariathttps://www.crfm.int/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=895
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