Blue Foods, Bright Futures
How the Blue Foods Forum Sparked Coastal Innovation
In February 2025, Oregon’s first Blue Foods Forum brought together an extraordinary mix of chefs, economists, artisans, food innovators, marine scientists, and ocean advocates for three days of hands-on collaboration and culinary inspiration.
Chef Andre Uribe (Longevity Kitchen) explains the health benefits of dulse seaweed in a culinary demo at Blue Foods Forum 2025.
Hosted by the Oregon Ocean Cluster in close collaboration with our Winter Waters team and partners including Ecotrust, Oregon Kelp Alliance, Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center, and many other partners, this community-building event sparked lively dialogues about interconnected ecosystems, circular economies, and the future of coastal food systems.
What emerged was not just inspiration - but a wave of tangible innovation - new products, new companies, and deeper connection between projects across Oregon and beyond.
Outcomes of the Blue Foods Forum in action: Local Ocean Seafoods
Rockfish “chips” are a tasty treat for your canine companions, made from upcycled fish skins at Local Ocean in Newport, Oregon
Local Ocean Seafoods returned home from the Forum deeply inspired. Within months, they launched a 100 percent fish utilization program to reduce waste at their restaurant, transforming what once might have been discarded into delicious, purposeful products.
Today, their fish skin pet treats and collagen-rich fish bone broth are both success stories, now available at select retailers, online, and at their Newport market.
These new product lines show how creative thinking can turn sustainability into both flavor and opportunity.
Darlene Khalafi, Business Innovation Specialist for Local Ocean Seafood’s 100% Fish Program, with the newest innovation, Savory Salmon Bone Broth
Creative ventures launched at the Blue Foods Forum: Ocean Art
Upcycled fish skin leather earrings by Solfiskur - a PDX based company
The ripple effects extended far beyond a single business. Artists, makers, and food innovators have built new bridges since that gathering, sparking collaborations that continue to grow.
>>>In a soft launch of Sullivan Seed Studios, food systems leader and artist Sarah Sullivan offered her first block printing workshop for the Blue Foods Forum 2025, at ADX Portland. Sarah’s workshops have since become a popular connection point to reconnect busy lives with the creative inspiration of nature.
>>>When Ellen of Solfiskur met Seth and Anna from Yakobi Fisheries at the Blue Foods Forum 2025, ideas started to flow! The two companies collaborated with Colles Stolle and the Slow Fish network to highlight Icelandic-inspired fish skin jewelry at tthe KNOW Fish Dinner at Bar Carlo in April - celebrating Pacific Northwest seafood and the creative and beautiful ways we can use 100% fish.
Tre Fin Seafood lingcod skins - transformed by Reclaim Co-op into eco-friendly products
>>>In Philomath, a new business called Reclaim Cooperative has formed to launch Oregon’s first artisanal fish leather tannery!
Reclaim owners are upcycling fish skins sourced from colleagues they met at the Blue Foods Forum, and are already collaborating on exciting new concepts with Central Coast Food Web, Oregon’s first seafood “hub”.
Stay tuned to learn more about a new Fish Leather workshop series that will share knowledge about traditional materials, skills-building activities, and circular design. Coming soon!
You can learn more about these exciting projects and upcoming opportunities by signing up for the Oregon Ocean Cluster newsletter.
Coastal infrastructure expanding after the Blue Foods Forum: Oregon Ocean Cluster
The Oregon Ocean Cluster (OOC) - a program of the Oregon Coast Visitors Association, has also built momentum since February.
In Spring 2026 OOC will launch Oregon Mariculture X, an experimental seawater system research and development (R&D) and accelerator farm created in partnership with Oo-nee Sea Ranch and Central Coast Food Web at the Yaquina Lab in Newport. Oo-nee and OOC already collaborate with scientists at Hatfield Marine Science Center, and this new pilot site will focus on improving production methods and supporting commercialization of seaweeds, purple sea urchin, and more.
This infrastructure project is one of six new strategic initiatives under the Cluster’s umbrella, designed to fuel the next generation of blue economy entrepreneurs.
Seaweed tanks under construction at Oregon’s first R&D mariculture accelerator farm - an Oregon Ocean Cluster project in Newport
“Live tank tech” kits ready to be deployed to teach mariculture skillsets in coastal high school classrooms.
OCVA/OOC is also investing in developing blue economy workforce training programs for high school students and ocean-curious entrepreneurs and adults. Their Seafood Butchery and Live Tank Tech programs have been piloted in high schools, and planning work is underway to expand these programs to emerging industry participants as well.
Learn more about why this is important in this intro video to a new curriculum “Beautiful and Wild: Fisheries of the PNW” - narrated by our friend and colleague Laura Anderson from Local Ocean restaurant in Newport.
Urchin-Inspiration after the Blue Foods Forum
New podcast takes a closer look at the people and ecosystems behind Oregon’s mariculture
The inspiration continues to spread - and collide with values-aligned initiatives in beautiful ways. The Oregon Coast Mariculture Collaborative is a great example - these 5 organizations are working together on collaborative projects designed to bolster the future of Oregon’s regenerative mariculture industry.
An Ecotrust staff member who visited Oo-nee Sea Ranch as part of an OCMC project, recently began experimenting with watercolor pigments she made from purple urchin shells, inspired by conversations during a site visit.
Natural watercolor pigments handcrafted by Ecotrust’s Community Capital director Kaitlyn Rich - including one made from upcycled purple urchin spines sourced from Oo-nee Sea Ranch, in Newport
Kaitlyn’s creative journey is featured in Ecotrust’s new podcast, Tending the Tides, another example of how ideas shared at the Ocean’s edge can ripple outward. Alanna and Kristen (two of our Winter Waters co-founders) were able to connect with Kaitlyn and dozens of fellow regenerative mariculture enthusiasts recently at the Oregon Mariculture Futures Forum, in Coos Bay, OR. The future is looking bright indeed with so much opportunity available through collaboration!
For Winter Waters, these stories represent what the Blue Foods Forum is all about: bringing people together to re-imagine what is possible when we work with, rather than against, our coastal ecosystems. From fish broth to fish leather to ocean art, these projects prove that blue foods can be a source of innovation, resilience, and community pride.
The next chapter is already being written, and we cannot wait to see where the tide takes us next. Save the date for the Blue Foods Forum 2026: February 1st & 2nd in Portland, Oregon.
Illustrated notes, taken by Urban Wild Studio at the Blue Foods Forum 2025.