Abstract
The capacity of marine and coastal ecosystems to sustain seafood production and consumption is seldom accounted for and is not included in the signals that guide economic development. In this article, we review estimates of marine and coastal areas aimed at sustaining catches for seafood consumption. The aim of this paper is the assessment of the interactions between the environment, intended as a set of ecological subsystems in natural equilibrium, including the marine ecosystem, and the process of fisheries systems. In particular we analyze fisheries in Italy, which is the third biggest economy and the greatest consumer of seafood in the Eurozone, conducting an in-depth analysis of the Marine Ecological Footprint (MEF) that evaluates the marine ecosystem area exploited by human populations to supply seafood and other marine products and services. The positioning of Italian fisheries shows a level of sustainability next to the threshold value. The analysis in the present study highlights the importance of absolute indicators in providing rough estimates about human dependence on ecological systems and recognizes the importance of those indicators, such as the Marine Footprint (expressed in % of Primary Production Required/Primary Production), in ensuring a high level of precision and accuracy in quantifying human activity impact on the environment.
Highlights
Due to the appreciation of fish as a healthy food, the world fish food supply has grown significantly during the last few years, with an average growth rate of 3.2 percent per year in the period between 1961 and 2009, reaching the worldwide value of about 148 million metric tons of fish supplied by capture fisheries and aquaculture in 2010, about 128 million metric tons of which have been used as food for people [1]
The analysis of this work defines the Marine Ecological Footprint (MEF) based on the primary production that is required to generate the Italian catches of marine fisheries
Using Primary Production Required (PPR) equation and Primary Production (PP) estimates, we evaluated the proportion of primary production exploited by fisheries in Italian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for 2012, assessing the value of MEF based on threshold levels and positioning Italy in the theoretical framework proposed by Tudela to evaluate its ecosystem overfishing level [32]
Summary
During the last few years the consumption of fish has been continuously growing due both to its nutritional qualities and the techniques of capture, storage and transport, which have been improved, allowing for the export of fish over long distances while still maintaining its nutritional quality.Due to the appreciation of fish as a healthy food, the world fish food supply has grown significantly during the last few years, with an average growth rate of 3.2 percent per year in the period between 1961 and 2009, reaching the worldwide value of about 148 million metric tons of fish supplied by capture fisheries and aquaculture in 2010 (with a total value of US $217.5 billion), about 128 million metric tons of which have been used as food for people [1].The increased consumption of fish has been supported over time by the knowledge that aquatic resources, renewable, are not infinite, and must be adequately managed, if their contribution to the nutritional, economic and social well-being of the world’s growing population is to be sustained [2].There is evidence of the beneficial effects of fish consumption for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases [3], diabetes [4] and some types of cancers [5].fish and fishery products represent a valuable source of nutrients of fundamental importance for diversified and healthy diets as a source of high-value protein, and as a source of vitamins such as choline, biotin and vitamin B12, A, D and E, various trace elements like selenium and iodine and polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid) [6,7].The entire human system relies on resources and services provided by the Biosphere, from which it cannot be dissociated. The increased consumption of fish has been supported over time by the knowledge that aquatic resources, renewable, are not infinite, and must be adequately managed, if their contribution to the nutritional, economic and social well-being of the world’s growing population is to be sustained [2]. Fish and fishery products represent a valuable source of nutrients of fundamental importance for diversified and healthy diets as a source of high-value protein, and as a source of vitamins such as choline, biotin and vitamin B12, A, D and E, various trace elements like selenium and iodine and polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid) [6,7]. Besides its rigorous scientific conceptual framework industrial ecology, referring to all human activities occurring within modern society, can be seen as a practical approach to sustainability. Industrial ecology represents precisely one of the paths that could provide concrete solutions [8]
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