Sea use impact category in life cycle assessment: characterization factors for life support functions

Abstract

The impact of human activities on marine environments is poorly addressed by the scope of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). The aim of this study is to provide characterization factors to assess impacts of sea use such as fishing activities or seafloor destruction and transformation on the life support functions of marine ecosystems. The consensual framework of land use for ecosystem services damage potential assessment was applied, according to the recent United Nations Environment Programme-Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (UNEP-SETAC) guidelines, using the free net primary production as a quality index of life support functions. The impact of shading, biomass removal, seafloor destruction, and artificial habitat creation on the available quantity of organic biomass for the ecosystem functioning was quantified at the midpoint level with a common unit (kg of organic carbon equivalent). It included effects of human interventions on both the ecosystem production potential and the stock of biomass present within the ecosystem. Characterization factors (CF) for biomass removal vary from 0.1 kgCeq kg−1 for seaweed to 111.1 kgCeq kg−1 for tunas, bonitos, and billfishes. CF for seafloor destruction range from 0.164 kgCeq m−2 for a temperate seagrass ecosystem to 0.342 kgCeq m−2 for an intertidal tropical rocky habitat. This study provides an operational method in order to compute sea use impact assessment.