Fish Carcass Usage?

Since my retirement, I have been going fishing as much as I can, 1-5 days per week, as the weather allows.  I have been giving fish away a lot, but I still generate a lot of fish carcasses at my fish cleaning station.  I buried them 1' below ground near our apple tree, but some animal got to them.  After that, I have been freezing them and placing them in the organic trash can when I put the trash out for pickup.

My wife spends most of her days gardening and asks me about fish emulsion/fertilizer.  I think I will use a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and an airlock.  Based on YouTube instructions, it seems straightforward to make them.  I am not going to grind the fish.





I think this will consume about 2-3% my fish carcasses.  I don't want to dig deep holes after a long day of fishing. What should I do with the remaining carcasses?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I might try to work this into my garden. I’ve been saving some for crab bait but that’s a fraction of what gets generated. For the lingcod and halibut carcasses I find snapping and folding them in thirds usually fits them into a bag for freezing.

1. Recycle them into the water from whence they came. Go down to Noyo jetty and chuck them, or take take them with you next time you launch. Easy.
2. Fish sauce.

1. Recycle them into the water from whence they came. Go down to Noyo jetty and chuck them, or take take them with you next time you launch. Easy.
2. Fish sauce.

Thank you.  I will try to take them back where they came.

Paul

Since my retirement, I have been going fishing as much as I can, 1-5 days per week, as the weather allows.  I have been giving fish away a lot, but I still generate a lot of fish carcasses at my fish cleaning station.  I buried them 1' below ground near our apple tree, but some animal got to them.  After that, I have been freezing them and placing them in the organic trash can when I put the trash out for pickup.

My wife spends most of her days gardening and asks me about fish emulsion/fertilizer.  I think I will use a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and an airlock.  Based on YouTube instructions, it seems straightforward to make them.  I am not going to grind the fish.





I think this will consume about 2-3% my fish carcasses.  I don't want to dig deep holes after a long day of fishing. What should I do with the remaining carcasses?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Paul, bury carcasses then fill hole and then lay chicken wire or any mesh wire over the spot and allow three foot of wire margin, then shovel some dirt on that. This works to keep animals out.

I will try the chicken wire method.  Thank you.

I have a Chinese grandmother (my buddys mother in law) I bring all my carcasses to and she and her friends cook it all up!  Nothing gets wasted, I love it!

I really like the fish emulsion.  I don't fish enough to create all of my own and I buy some from the local feed store.  However, either way you get it, it's really great fertilizer.  One of the biggest benefits over other fertilizers is that it's a huge nitrogen boost, but without the risk of burning the plants since it's organic and naturally slow-release.  We fertilize our flowering and fruiting trees/shrubs with it during the growing season by diluting fish emulsion with water and simply watering with a can.

So I've experimented with all sorts of home made fish fertilizers.  I'd say the hydrosolate is the most user friendly.  Other methods like JADAM produce a great product, however, it is stinky AF.  I spilled a little in the back of my truck and it was enough smell to discourage me from ever making it again.  The hydrosolates smell sweat and mildly like vinegar.  It's that lacto fermented smell.  And they take the shortest time to finish, as short as 2-3 months.  I have a couple buckets I just keep adding to while using the final product, so it's in a continual state of production.

-Allen

This is what I've done with my fish carcass/scraps in the past.  I'd save a bunch in the freezer and then when I have a bucketful, I'd make a batch.  Seems like you probably get a bucketful in a single trip.   

 Hey Paul, I had a 20 gallon garbage can with lid next to my fish cleaning station, to create my own fish fertilizer out of guts, carcasses, seaweed etc. It stunk to high heaven,but since neighbors are far enough there were no complaints. Animals (raccoons ?) tried to get into it, so I bungee the lid to the can and tie-wrapped the can handle to the fish station, which is installed onto a heavier duty steel rack. Few months passed and I had the benefit of using some ripe fertilizer in my garden. I gently poured about one quart of yum into 5 gal bucket and filled with water. It worked great until one day when I smelled the ripe perfume from my front door. Apparently a larger animal than a coon ripped the can out the tie-wrap anchor and flipped the can; there were flies and yellow jackets buzzing around the spill that needless to say it stunk to high heaven. After clean-up/cover-up I started a new batch, this time securing the garbage can handle to the cleaning station with high strength webbing. Long story short, month later I found my fish station relocated about 5 ft, the garbage can ripped out of its handle and busted. A few large bear paw prints indicated the likely culprit. So... I had another bloody smelly mess in my yard, and a new fish station project on my hands.
Ever since, I gave up the idea of creation my own emulsion in my back yard. Now I bury carcasses in the garden and cover them with heavy duty metal grates 

Probably takes longer to break down but you can just dig a hole throw the carcass in and chop it with your shovel mix a little dirt chop it some more That way it doesnt tend to get dug up

I just buried some this morning where I pulled up beans that were cursed with some kind of leaf mold

Thank you for all the great information.  I will plan to make some hydrolysate fertilizer using 5-gallon buckets.  Will update my progress.

I use some of the carcasses in a much less exciting way than fertilizer.    My neighbors would run me out of town anyways.   

I cook a lot of it.    Chop up the skeleton into manageable sizes and simply simmer them with a chunk of Kombu.  It makes an awesome dashi to turn into miso soup.   Or lately it’s been Korean inspired soups.   I then bury the cooked bones in my garden.   Currently my two winter melon plants are mutant huge! 

Guts?   I’m now putting them into a work dumpster. 

I don’t have the same situation you all have, I catch and eat a humble amount.  I’m just tapping into the potential of our ocean.