01
Food-grade offcut stream
Frozen whole for feeding fish
Cleaned heads and fins are kept separate, fresh-frozen whole, and boxed as feed for aquarium and aquaculture fish.
Cleaned heads Fins Fresh frozen
For public aquariums, aquaculture, and feed suppliers
Every part of the squid has value.
Across 54 AZA aquariums and zoos, 55% of the seafood species fed to animals have an unknown sustainability status. Ours doesn't. One species, one MSC-certified fishery, one Rhode Island processor — whole, frozen once, and documented end to end.
Follow the processOne squid, two food-grade streams. Both leave whole.
The problem
Most feed can't prove where it came from.
AZA-accredited institutions buy an estimated 17 million pounds of seafood a year to feed the animals in their care. When 54 aquariums and zoos were assessed, more than half the species on their feed list could not be traced to a known standard.
- 55%
- of seafood species fed at those 54 institutions have an unknown sustainability status — along with 25% of total volume by weight.
- Staples are slipping
- Capelin and herring carry most piscivore diets, and both have seen supply disruptions in recent years. Concentration is a nutritional and budget risk, which is why AZA guidance recommends at least three seafood types per animal — four or five where possible.
- Paperwork you can't complete
- Sourcing policies ask for species, scientific name, catch location, gear type, and certification status. Vague catch locations and mismatched dates are named indicators of seafood fraud — and are common in feed-grade supply chains.
Figures from Sourcing Sustainable Seafood Feed for Animals in Our Care, Aquarium Conservation Partnership and AZA SAFE Shark and Ray.
What we sell
Two streams off one food-grade line.
The seafood product stream and the offcut stream begin with the same food-grade raw material. What changes is where each portion goes next.
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Seafood product stream
Cleaned for market
Our processor partner cleans and prepares the mantle, arms, and tentacles as familiar seafood products.
Cleaned tubes Squid rings Tentacles
Why it feeds better
Whole squid, at food grade, because of where it comes from.
Most marine feed reaches you already processed — milled into meal, bound into pellets, or rendered. These heads and fins are separated on a line producing squid for human consumption, then frozen fresh. Squid is landed in season and held in cold storage, so supply continues between seasons.
- Frozen once
- Caught, processed, and frozen fresh — never thawed and refrozen.
- MSC-certified fishery
- Certified sustainable at the source, by third-party audit.
- No added fishing pressure
- A co-product of squid already landed for human food — feeding your fish takes nothing extra out of the water.
- Food-grade throughout
- Single species, consistent size, never rendered.
Ask us for current pack formats, volumes, and lead times.
Separated At source, on a human-food line
Frozen Whole and fresh — never milled
Shipped Boxed, to you
Rhode Island partnership
Processing knowledge meets marine science.
Processor partner
Rhode Island Seafood Processors
Food-grade squid processing and separation of the material at its source.
Collection and cold chain
Offcut Marine
Collects, freezes, and ships the food-grade offcut stream. Partners on research into future uses.
Research partner
Roger Williams University Center for Economic and Environmental Development (CEED)
Ingredient analysis, preparation, formulation, and marine fish evaluation.
The evidence
Already being fed to fish, under measurement.
These offcuts are in active feeding trials at the Roger Williams University Center for Economic and Environmental Development (CEED) — currently with sea bass, scup, and flounder. The work measures composition, palatability, growth and health, so that claims about this feed rest on data rather than on provenance alone.
Trials are ongoing and results are not yet final. We would rather show you the numbers when they are complete than characterise them early — if you want to see the data as it comes out, ask and we will send it.
- Sea bass
- Scup
- Flounder
- 01
Characterize
Nutritional composition and raw-material consistency
- 02
Stabilize
Handling, storage, and cold-chain consistency
- 03
Feed
Live trials with sea bass, scup, and flounder
- 04
Measure
Palatability, growth, and fish health
Work with us
Tell us what you feed.
We welcome conversations with public aquariums, aquaculture producers, and the suppliers who source their feed — as well as researchers and potential partners.
Prefer email? Write to contact@offcutmarine.com.