Hake proteins recovered from by-products of seafood processing industries can be used for the preparation of biodegradable films. The incorporation of essential oils in these films reduced film thickness as well as the solubility in water, affected film mechanical properties, and improved antioxidant activity. Clove films showed the lowest water vapour permeability and the highest antibacterial activity (against S. putrefaciens); garlic films presented the highest antioxidant activity; and origanum films were more similar to control films. The results of this study indicate that hake protein films, prepared with by-products, incorporated with clove, garlic, and origanum essential oils, show interesting properties (water vapour barrier and antibacterial and antioxidant activities) to be good candidates to be used in biodegradable food packaging systems.