Seafood Production Systems Research Articles

How sustainable is tuna aquaculture? A methodology to assess the sustainability of seafood production systems

IntroductionConsidering the need to feed the increasing world population, it is essential to ensure that food production systems are sustainable. Aquaculture has been identified as a potential crucial source of sustainable food with its significant potential for future growth, notably by the recent EU regulations aiming at boosting food security and sustainable food systems. In this context, it is important to reflect on how the aquaculture of carnivorous species, which are exhibiting the highest growth rates, stands in respect of environmental impacts and contribution to the overall food supply. In particular, tuna aquaculture has been largely criticized for its high environmental impacts and general low sustainability.MethodsHere, we present a methodology to assess the sustainability of seafood production systems, with a first analysis applied to Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) aquaculture, detailed for both BFT fattening and farming.ResultsResults suggest that the limited economic and social contributions of BFT aquaculture do not currently compensate its environmental impacts with an estimate of a 3.4-fold higher long-term social cost than the short-term economic gain.DiscussionHowever, it is also a species where the production cycle is not closed in commercial operation, and with a significant potential for further improvement as the control of the production process increases.

Dietary shifts and the need for increased sustainability approaches in the global aquaculture seafood system

Recent shifts in the global dietary preferences have indicated the fast-growing choice for plant-based, or meat-reduced diets. Among the motivations for such choices, which are increasingly advocated by nations and environmental institutions, is the major concern with global environmental sustainability and impacts of food production systems. Incontestably, the animal food source industry is extremely diverse, and seafood production through the aquaculture value chain remains unfamiliar to key stakeholders possibly leading to an uncomprehensive view and often biased perception of the farming industry within the environmental context. Accordingly, I discuss the importance of seafood production systems, such as the fastest seafood production that is the aquaculture sector, to increase their focus on the sustainability arena with more substantial and effective improvements for sustainable production, and most importantly, concomitantly informing end consumers. I mention examples of types of sustainability efforts that can be implemented and highlight the urgency of actively informing customers about implemented practices.

A network approach to analyse Australia’s blue economy policy and legislative arrangements

Governance systems are complex adaptive systems where multiple components interact extensively. This is the case for governance of the blue economy, focused on sustainable development of marine resources. Here, the relevant policy and legislative arrangements are fragmented, and marine uses, activities and resources are generally managed on a sectoral basis by independent entities from multiple jurisdictions. In Australia, for example, complex arrangements have created uncertainty in relation to what, when, how, and by whom blue economy activities are possible. Network approaches to map and analyse complex systems could potentially improve our understanding and facilitate management of policy and legal complexity. Yet, there are few studies that have adopted such approaches in ocean governance. Our research demonstrates the application of an innovative approach based on network graphs and text mining to analyse a policy and legislative system associated with Australia’s blue economy (i.e., policy and legal arrangements applicable to the coastal and marine areas within the seaward boundaries of the continental shelf around the State of Tasmania). Using a database of over 2000 international, federal, state policy and legislative arrangements, cross-sector analyses were undertaken to identify potential gaps and overlaps that may hinder the deployment of blue economy activities, particularly those relating to integrated seafood and energy production systems. Our graphs allowed quick and easy visualisation of policy and legislative clusters around government entities, relationships between those entities and clusters, as well as potential gaps and overlaps in the existing policy and legislative landscape. Results point to a lack of integration and a need for fit-for-purpose policy and legislation, particularly for the development of co-located blue economy activities. Our approach may be used in research of other complex governance settings to inform policymaking as well as for communication and educational purposes.

Applying a jurisdictional approach to support sustainable seafood

AbstractEnsuring the security of ocean ecosystems that provide food and livelihood benefits from seafood systems requires significant investment in improving the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture production at scale. Seafood certification and ratings systems have established strong benchmarks for sustainability, but markets need to incentivize sustainability throughout the value chain and at relevant ecological scales in order to generate meaningful conservation impacts and support lasting on‐the‐water stewardship efforts. Here, we propose that market‐based approaches and ecosystem‐based governance initiatives can be integrated to improve the sustainability of seafood production systems using a jurisdictional approach. Jurisdictional approaches are place‐based initiatives deployed in key commodity producing regions to drive sustainability through aligned incentives among government, market, and producer actors. To explore the applicability of this approach in seafood, we first identify key mismatches in existing certification and ratings schemes that stymie the effectiveness of market‐based approaches to drive ecosystem‐scale impacts. Subsequently we identify the differentiated incentives for sustainability among producers, supply chain companies, and governments—drawing evidence from research and practice. Based on this analysis, we review the potential for jurisdictional approaches to align actors' incentives for sustainability at the scale of entire production geographies, bringing market‐based approaches and governance improvements together to achieve conservation outcomes.

Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture of red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) and sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra): Assessing bioremediation and life-cycle impacts

Environmental sustainability of aquaculture is a complex issue involving effects at local (e.g. benthic deterioration), regional (e.g. eutrophication) and global (e.g. catches for feed production) scales as a consequence of farming operations (e.g. waste emissions) and industrial processes involved in the product value chain. Integrating these effects using a holistic and multi-scale framework is essential to assess the environmental sustainability of innovative production systems such as Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA), in which organisms of different trophic levels are co-cultured on the same farm to minimize aquaculture waste. The environmental performances of theoretical production scenarios of red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) sea cage monoculture and an open-water IMTA co-culturing of red drum and sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra) were assessed with mathematical models at local and global scales. First, the particulate waste bioremediation potential of sea cucumber production was estimated using an individual-based bioenergetic model. Second, environmental impacts of the monoculture and the IMTA systems were estimated and compared using life cycle assessment (LCA), calculated per kg of edible protein and t of product, including uncertainty analysis. Given the current limits to stocking density observed for sea cucumbers, its co-culture in sea cages suspended beneath finfish nets may decrease slightly (by 0.73%) farm net particulate waste load and benthic impact. The monoculture and IMTA showed little difference in impact because of the large difference in production scales of finfish and sea cucumber species. Removing 100% of finfish feces particulate waste requires cultivating sea cucumber at scale similar to that of finfish (1.3 kg of sea cucumber per kg of finfish). Nonetheless, LCA showed trends in IMTA performance: lower eutrophication impact and net primary production use but higher cumulative energy demand and climate change impacts, generating an impact transfer between categories. Intensification of sea cucumber culture could increase local and global environmental benefits, but further research is necessary to design rearing units that can optimize production and/or bioremediation and that can be practically integrated into existing finfish monoculture units. The methodology defined here can be a powerful tool to predict the magnitude of environmental benefits that can be expected from new and complex production systems and to show potential impact transfer between spatial scales. We recommend applying it to other IMTA systems and species associations and including socio-economic criteria to fully assess the sustainability of future seafood production systems.

Combining ecosystem indicators and life cycle assessment for environmental assessment of demersal trawling in Tunisia

PurposeThe present study assesses environmental performance of seafood production by demersal trawling in Tunisia (Gulf of Gabes) in order to analyze the contribution of each production stage to environmental impacts and to understand drivers of the impacts using life cycle assessment (LCA). Then a set of ecosystem quality indicators were determined using an ecosystem modeling tool, Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE), and were combined with LCA to increase the relevance of both tools’ assessments when applied to fisheries.MethodsThe approach consisted of conducting LCA and calculating ecosystem indicators to provide a complete assessment of trawling’s environmental impacts and the ecosystem characteristics associated with seafood production. The functional unit for the LCA was set to 1 t of landed seafood, and system boundaries included several operational stages related to demersal trawling. Several ecosystem indicators from EwE were calculated. Demersal trawling in the exploited ecosystem of the Gulf of Gabes (southern Tunisia) was used as a case study to illustrate the applicability of the approach. Several management plans were simulated and their influence on environmental performance was assessed. Ecospace, the spatial module of EwE, was used to simulate management scenarios: establishment of marine protected areas, extension of the biological rest period, and decrease in the number of demersal trawlers.Results and discussionLCA revealed that fuel consumption by fishing vessels, fuel production, and paint and antifouling production contributed most to environmental impacts. All management plans simulated decreased environmental impacts compared with the baseline scenario. The most effective management plan is extending the rest period, which increases demersal trawler yield and greatly decreases the PPR/catch of demersal trawlers.ConclusionsThe method developed in this study is relevant for supplementing LCA of fisheries and potentially that of seafood production systems. It provides policy makers with practical information to help implement effective management plans in the context of an ecosystem approach to fisheries.

The Global Environmental Politics and Political Economy of Seafood Systems

This article situates seafood in the larger intersection between global environmental governance and the food system. Drawing inspiration from the food regimes approach, we trace the historical unfolding of the seafood system and its management between the 1930s and the 2010s. In doing so, we bridge global environmental politics research that has studied either the politics of fisheries management or seafood sustainability governance, and we bring seafood and the fisheries crisis into food regimes scholarship. Our findings reveal that the seafood system has remained firmly dependent on the historical institutions of national seafood production systems and, particularly, on the state-based regulatory regimes that they promulgated in support of national economic and geopolitical interests. As such, seafood systems contribute to a broader, historicized understanding of the hybrid global environmental governance of food systems in which nonstate actors depend heavily upon, and in fact call for the strengthening of, state-based institutions. Our findings reveal that the contemporary private ordering of seafood governance solidifies the centrality of state-based institutions in the struggle for “sustainable” seafood and enables the continued expansionary, volume-driven extractivist logics that produced the fisheries crisis in the first place.

Studies on seafood production systems in the South-west Region of Bangladesh

The present study was conducted to understand existing production system of shrimp and prawn (seafood) with gher1 farming in the south-western region of Bangladesh from January to March 2014. Three gher farming clusters in three Upazilas of Bagerhat district were selected to carry out this study to assess the fact above using focus group discussion, key informant interview, questionnaire survey, physical observation, and literature review. The study revealed that gher farming system has changed the cropping patterns dramatically. This diversified farming system produces prawn, carp fish, boro paddy, and vegetable in the field where only single crop of paddy was cultivated. Gher dikes were used to produce vegetables, fruits and the central part for rice cultivation. Whereas the whole water body (during monsoon) and canals (during dry season) were used to culture finfish and prawn. Farmers were mainly found to use commercial feed with a rare amount of homemade feed because of the availability of commercial feed. Most of their investment goes for buying feed, PL and were found to take loan with high interest from banks or depot owners. Decreased salinity due to siltation in Mongla river resulted in increased overall production. The evidence presented in the study confirms that gher farming system impacting positively in the south-west region of Bangladesh.J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 15(1): 123-132, January 2017

Growing Demand for High-Quality Seafood Products and Production Systems in Aquaculture

Growing Demand for High-Quality Seafood Products and Production Systems in Aquaculture

The `seafood gap' in the food-water nexus literature—issues surrounding freshwater use in seafood production chains

Abstract Freshwater use for food production is projected to increase substantially in the coming decades with population growth, changing demographics, and shifting diets. Ensuring joint food-water security has prompted efforts to quantify freshwater use for different food products and production methods. However, few analyses quantify freshwater use for seafood production, and those that do use inconsistent water accounting. This inhibits water use comparisons among seafood products or between seafood and agricultural/livestock products. This ‘seafood gap’ in the food-water nexus literature will become increasingly problematic as seafood consumption is growing globally and aquaculture is one of the fastest growing animal food sectors in the world. Therefore, the present study 1) reviews freshwater use concepts as they relate to seafood production; 2) provides three cases to highlight the particular water use concerns for aquaculture, and; 3) outlines future directions to integrate seafood into the broader food-water nexus discussion. By revisiting water use concepts through a focus on seafood production systems, we highlight the key water use processes that should be considered for seafood production and offer a fresh perspective on the analysis of freshwater use in food systems more broadly.

The Ethics and Sustainability of Capture Fisheries and Aquaculture

The global seafood industry (capture fisheries and aquaculture) is a vital source of food, income, livelihoods, and culture. Seafood demand is steadily rising due to growth in the global human population, affluence, and per capita consumption. Seafood supply is also growing, despite declining wild fish stocks, with phenomenal advances in aquaculture, that is, the cultivation of aquatic organisms. Aquaculture supplied 42 % of the world’s fish in 2012 and is forecast to eclipse capture fisheries production by 2030. The balance between these two seafood production systems has profound implications for global food security, income distribution, and ecological sustainability. Here, a qualitative analysis of the ethics and sustainability of capture fisheries and aquaculture is presented. An innovative practical ethics approach is introduced which adapts the ethical matrix, a conceptual tool for analyzing the wellbeing, autonomy, and justice of different interest groups, and Rapfish, a rapid appraisal technique used to evaluate the sustainability of fisheries along six performance modalities, including ethics. Using case studies of global large- and small-scale capture fisheries and generalized carnivorous and omnivorous aquaculture systems, I show that human institutions and social actors interact in complex governance processes to influence seafood ethics and sustainability.

A Review of Smart Fish Farming Systems

This paper reviews smart fish farming systems that demonstrate how complex science and technology can be made easy for application in seafood production systems. In this context, the focus of this paper is on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in fish culture. AI mimics some of the capabilities of human brain via its Artificial Neural Network (ANN) in performing certain tasks in a fish hatchery that are crucial for aquaculture systems. Water quality is of utmost importance for survival, growth and all other living activities of captive stocks of fish. The AI-based systems can be designed for controlling the main parameters of water quality such as salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH and temperature. This systems approach uses software application that runs on an application server connected to multi-parameter water quality meters such as those offered by YSI. The software captures these parameter values from YSI device and checks if they are within the optimum range. If not, then an alarm system is triggered for immediate remedial action that can be executed by personnel handling the hatchery management roles. This improves accuracy, saves cost and action time to ensure sustainability life-supporting system in the hatchery. Despite complexity in evolving this system, the application is simple enough to be operated by an organized fish farming community. Because this study introduces a rather new approach to aquaculture management, presentation of a detailed background scenario was deemed necessary to put the pertinent issues in the right perspective.

A system‐wide approach to supporting improvements in seafood production practices and outcomes

Environmental certification and consumer awareness programs are designed to create market incentives for implementing fisheries and aquaculture practices that are more sustainable. Typically focused on particular species and activities, such programs have so far triggered few changes to improve seafood sustainability. Here, we present a conceptual, system‐wide fisheries and aquaculture certification program designed to recognize and promote change toward more sustainable and resilient seafood production systems. In contrast to previous efforts, this program concentrates on both ecosystems and various human stakeholders, relies on an adaptive management approach (termed “continual improvement”) to enhance outcomes, and considers socioeconomic factors. The goal of this program is to support the restoration and maintenance of healthy ecosystem states and thriving human communities as well as the improvement of whole social–ecological systems.

Role of life cycle assessment in sustainable aquaculture

AbstractAs an alternative food source to wild fisheries, aquaculture shows a great potential to help meet the growing demand for seafood and animal protein. The expansion of aquaculture has been achieved partly by system intensification, which has drawn vast criticisms of aquaculture for its environmental, social and economic sustainability issues. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has become the leading tool for identifying key environmental impacts of seafood production systems. A LCA evaluates the sustainability of diverse aquaculture systems quantitatively from a cradle‐to‐grave perspective. It provides a scientific basis for analysing system improvement and the development of certification and eco‐labelling criteria. Current efforts focus on integrating local ecological and socio‐economic impacts into the LCA framework. A LCA can play an important role in informing decision makers in order to achieve more sustainable seafood production and consumption. This article reviews recent applications of LCA in aquaculture, compares the environmental performance of different aquaculture production systems, explores the potential of including biodiversity issues into LCA analysis and examines the potential of LCA in setting criteria for certification and eco‐labelling.

Life Cycle Assessment as applied to environmental choices regarding farmed or wild-caught fish.

Abstract Fish production is facing increasing worldwide demand while fish landings are plateauing. Fish production is the only kind of animal production that is still dominated by extractive activity, endangered because of overexploitation of natural resources and a rearing activity with a rapid expansion. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which estimates local- to global-scale environmental impacts, has been adapted to seafood production systems. Scientific publications increasingly propose methodological improvements and case-study applications of LCA in the fishery and aquaculture sectors, with the combined objectives of better describing and understanding their biophysical interactions with the environment and supporting decision-making and eco-labelling of seafood products. In particular, the development of innovative indicators better defines impacts of fisheries on the marine ecosystem (e.g., benthos damage, by-catch, biotic resource use). Nevertheless, the lack of consensus about methodological questions (e.g., co-product allocation rules, system boundary definition) weakens comparisons between studies and limits the generalization of results and dissemination of methods. This paper reviews published applications of LCA to farmed and wild-caught fish.

Life Cycle Considerations for Improving Sustainability Assessments in Seafood Awareness Campaigns

It is widely accepted that improving the sustainability of seafood production requires efforts to reverse declines in global fisheries due to overfishing and to reduce the impacts to host ecosystems from fishing and aquaculture production technologies. Reflective of on-going dialogue amongst participants in an international research project applying Life Cycle Assessment to better understand and manage global salmon production systems, we argue here that such efforts must also address the wider range of biophysical, ecological, and socioeconomic impacts stemming from the material and energetic throughput associated with these industries. This is of particular relevance given the interconnectivity of global environmental change, ocean health, and the viability of seafood production in both fisheries and aquaculture. Although the growing popularity of numerous ecolabeling, certification, and consumer education programs may be making headway in influencing Western consumer perceptions of the relative sustainability of alternative seafood products, we also posit that the efficacy of these initiatives in furthering sustainability objectives is compromised by the use of incomplete criteria. An emerging body of Life Cycle Assessment research of fisheries and aquaculture provides valuable insights into the biophysical dimensions of environmental performance in alternative seafood production and consumption systems, and should be used to inform a more holistic approach to labeling, certifying, and educating for sustainability in seafood production. More research, however, must be undertaken to develop novel techniques for incorporating other critical dimensions, in particular, socioeconomic considerations, into our sustainability decision-making.

Co-product allocation in life cycle assessments of seafood production systems: Review of problems and strategies

Background, Aim and Scope As Life Cycle Assessment is being increasingly applied to study fisheries and aquaculture systems, the LCA methodology must be adapted to address the unique aspects of these systems. The focus of this methodological paper is the specific allocation problems faced in studying seafood production systems and how they have been addressed to date.

Co-product allocation in life cycle assessments of seafood production systems: Review of problems and strategies

Co-product allocation in life cycle assessments of seafood production systems: Review of problems and strategies

Impact categories for life cycle assessment research of seafood production systems: Review and prospectus

Impact categories for life cycle assessment research of seafood production systems: Review and prospectus

Impact categories for life cycle assessment research of seafood production systems: Review and prospectus

Goal, Scope and Background In face of continued declines in global fisheries landings and concurrent rapid aquaculture development, the sustainability of seafood production is of increasing concern. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) offers a convenient means of quantifying the impacts associated with many of the energetic and material inputs and outputs in these industries. However, the relevant but limited suite of impact categories currently used in most LCA research fails to capture a number of important environmental and social burdens unique to fisheries and aquaculture. This article reviews the impact categories used in published LCA research of seafood production to date, reports on a number of methodological innovations, and discusses the challenges to and opportunities for further impact category developments.