Sustainable Seafood Production Research Articles

Robot-assisted Aquaculture and Sustainable Seafood Production for Enhanced Food Security

This paper explores the integration of robotics in aquaculture practices to achieve sustainable seafood production, thereby enhancing global food security. With the increasing demand for seafood and the challenges posed by overfishing and environmental changes, innovative solutions are required to ensure a consistent supply of high-quality seafood. Robotic technologies offer promising avenues for optimizing various aspects of aquaculture, including monitoring, feeding, disease detection, and habitat management. Through a comprehensive review of recent advancements and case studies, this paper highlights the potential benefits, challenges, and future directions of robot-assisted aquaculture systems. By leveraging automation, data analytics, and artificial intelligence, the aquaculture industry can achieve greater efficiency, reduced environmental impact, and enhanced seafood availability, ultimately contributing to improved food security on a global scale.

Green Chemistry to Valorize Seafood Side Streams: An Ecofriendly Roadmap toward Sustainability.

A major challenge facing sustainable seafood production is the voluminous amounts of nutrient-rich seafood side streams consisting of by-catch, processing discards, and process effluents. There is a lack of a comprehensive model for optimal valorization of the side streams. Upcoming green chemistry-based processing has the potential to recover diverse valuable compounds from seafood side streams in an ecofriendly manner. Microbial and enzymatic bioconversions form major green processes capable of releasing biomolecules from seafood matrices under mild conditions. Novel green solvents, because of their low toxicity and recyclable nature, can extract bioactive compounds. Nonthermal technologies such as ultrasound, supercritical fluid, and membrane filtration can complement green extractions. The extracted proteins, peptides, polyunsaturated fatty acids, chitin, chitosan, and others function as nutraceuticals, food supplements, additives, etc. Green processing can address environmental, economic, and technological challenges of valorization of seafood side streams, thereby supporting sustainable seafood production. Green processing can also encourage bioenergy production. Multiple green processes, integrated in a marine biorefinery, can optimize valorization on a zero-waste trade-off, for a circular blue economy. A green chemistry-based valorization framework has the potential to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

The Sustainability of Seafood Products in the Opinions of Italian Consumers of Generation Z.

This study aims to explore whether members of Generation Z have sensitivity and awareness about environmental issues related to seafood production and consumption, their beliefs on how to make more sustainable the future provisioning of seafood, their consumption frequency, and, finally, whether different profiles and groups of people could be detected. A survey was implemented with 778 Italian students attending secondary schools. Descriptive statistics, testing, and cluster analyses were applied. Results provide the sustainability profile of five groups, of which three are aligned with SDGs 12 and 14, but the other groups, comprising almost half of the sample, are insensitive, unaware, or irresolute about the sustainability of seafood production and consumption. Overall, people's environmental consciousness does not appear to be strongly related to the frequency of consumption of sustainable seafood species. Regarding the solutions for improving the sustainability of future seafood production, young respondents underlined the catching and raising of novel, discarded, not exploited, or marginally exploited seafood species. People declared a high knowledge of the nutritional and safety implications of seafood. This study is one of the few that explore issues specifically related to the profiles of Generation Z and young people's approach toward sustainable seafood production and consumption.

Comparative evaluation of Ostrea edulis (Linnaeus, 1758) and Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793) biodeposition in Mediterranean lagoons and under controlled conditions

Oyster farming is considered a sustainable seafood production with environmental benefits related to water purification, but negative effects on the benthic ecosystem functioning could be caused by the release of feaces and pseudofeaces, collectively called bio-deposits. In this study, we compared the first time the daily bio-deposit production of Crassostrea gigas and Ostrea edulis in two Mediterranean coastal lagoons and in laboratory-controlled conditions. C. gigas resulted in a higher bio-deposit production than O. edulis in all the treatments, due to a higher ingestion rate of the former. Regardless to the species, differences were also recorded between lagoons, resulting S’Ena Arrubia in a higher bio-deposit production, consistent with a higher quality (i.e. POM/TPM ratio) and sedimentation rate of seston, than Corru S’Ittiri, indicating that the bio-deposition is strongly related to the environmental and trophic conditions of the farming site. Our results suggest that the bio-deposit production is site-specific, and it must be evaluated specifically in each farming site and for each oyster species. This study presents new data on the bio-deposition of C. gigas and O. edulis and contributes to our understanding of the potential impact of oyster farming.

Resilient or environmentally friendly? Both are possible when seafood businesses prepare for long-term risks

To ensure sustainable seafood production for future generations, seafood businesses must be resilient in the face of future shocks and stresses. Recent research suggests that by increasing alignment with principles of circular economy such as eliminating waste and regenerating natural environments, seafood companies may be able to improve their general resilience (i.e. resilience to unforeseen disruptions). Research presented here empirically explores potential links between circular economy, risk mitigation and resilience through a survey and workshops with seafood businesses in the United Kingdom. We found that many of the seafood companies participating in our research are actively implementing a range of circular economy actions such as recycling materials and minimising the use of single-use plastics. When identifying specific risks, businesses tended to adopt short-term mitigation measures that were less likely than longer-term measures to be aligned with circular economy principles. While businesses felt confident about their ability to adapt to and survive future risks, a focus on short-term risk mitigation might reduce their capacity to plan for longer-term risks. An inability to identify and prepare for longer-term risks may also impede businesses’ ability to increase their resilience to unforeseen disruptions and lock companies into a reactive, rather than a capacity-building cycle of risk mitigation.

From water to table: A multidisciplinary approach comparing fish from aquaponics with traditional production methods

Global fisheries are insufficient to meet the rising seafood demand of a rapidly growing population. Aquaponics – the co-production of fish and produce in a water-circulating system where fish naturally fertilize the plants, which in turn filter the water for the fish – offers a potential solution to sustainable aquaculture. Despite the ecological promise of aquaponics, relatively little is known about the impact of this novel production method on fish composition, sensory properties, and consumer acceptance. In this research, we offered a unique, interdisciplinary perspective to examine the market potential of aquaponics by conducting a series of multidisciplinary studies to compare yellow perch (Perca flavescens) from a combined Recirculating Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture System (RIMTAS) with fish from traditional production methods (i.e., wild-caught and farm-raised). Our quality parameter and macronutrient analyses showed that aquaponic perch were comparable to their wild-caught and farm-raised counterparts in texture, moisture content, total fat, and total protein. We also demonstrated that aquaponic perch were as liked as wild-caught perch in a consumer sensory evaluation. Furthermore, in a consumer perception and acceptance study, we found that providing information about the environmental benefits of aquaponics significantly increased consumer tastiness perception, healthiness perception, and purchase intention to a level at or exceeding that of wild-caught perch. With proper messaging strategies, aquaponic fish can compete in the market with wild-caught fish. Our findings offer insights to stakeholders in the aquaculture value chain as they explore and establish RIMTAS aquaponics as an environmentally and economically sustainable seafood production source.

Improving the texture and rheological qualities of a plant-based fishball analogue by using konjac glucomannan to enhance crosslinks with soy protein

Global fisheries pressure generates interest in sustainable seafood production and developing plant-based seafood. This study took fishball as an example of seafood products applying konjac glucomannan (KGM) in developing plant-based fishball (PFB) analogues mimicking the texture of fishball. Increasing KGM concentration (up to 8.0%) influenced texture and rheological properties of PFB progressively, where the hardness, chewiness, and gel strength of PFB were significantly enhanced. Decreased pH value (9.38 to 7.93) and increased α-helix, β-sheet, and helix/coil ratio (1.40 to 1.70%) validated a promotion of hydrogen bonds and ordered structures by KGM. The strengthened interaction strength and hydrogen bonds formed at -OH groups of KGM and amide linkage of soy protein could be responsible for textural improvement. A more compact and regular microstructure also validated a firmer texture in PFB with higher KGM levels. Besides, KGM (3.5–8.0%) significantly decreased instantaneous compliance J0 (101.3 × 10−6 to 58.1 × 10−6 Pa−1), indicating denser crosslinks and firmer structures. In conclusion, KGM improved the texture and viscoelasticity of PFB and had an excellent application value in developing plant-based seafood analogues.

Sustainable regional industry development through co-evolution - the case of salmon farming and cell-based seafood production

Norway is the largest producers of aquaculture salmon in the world, and the Bergen region is the centre of Norwegian salmon production. In this article we explore the opportunities and obstacles in introducing cell-based seafood as a new related industry niche in the region through coevolution with the established salmon farming industry. Introducing a new industry niche to this region could contribute to a comprehensive renewal of existing seafood-related activity and represent a major step towards sustainable seafood production. Cell-based seafood may eliminate sea lice, escapee and excess nutrient impacts on the surroundings by enabling highly controlled and contained seafood production. We found that coevolution between the cell-based seafood sector and the salmon industry in the Bergen region will be difficult to materialize at the present time. There are two main explanations. First, coevolution is challenging when the dominant path (i.e., salmon farming) is in a stable state. High profitability and a stable state mean that this industry absorbs investors, technology suppliers and research milieus that may otherwise have been on the lookout for alternatives and supplementary business opportunities. It also means that incumbents within the dominant path will not be looking for diversification alternatives. Secondly, there are distinct differences between the two industry paths when it comes to knowledge base, innovation mode and geographical configurations, making actor mobility, knowledge spillovers and resource sharing between the two industry paths challenging. We also find that coevolution may occur in the future through industrial convergent evolution mechanisms of downstream value chains as the cell-based seafood industry matures.

Valorization of Seafood Processing Discards: Bioconversion and Bio-Refinery Approaches

The seafood industry generates large volumes of waste. These include processing discards consisting of shell, head, bones intestine, fin, skin, voluminous amounts of wastewater discharged as effluents, and low-value under-utilized fish, which are caught as by-catch of commercial fishing operations. The discards, effluents, and by-catch are rich in nutrients including proteins, amino acids, lipids containing good proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), carotenoids, and minerals. The seafood waste is, therefore, responsible for loss of nutrients and serious environmental hazards. It is important that the waste is subjected to secondary processing and valorization to address the problems. Although chemical processes are available for waste treatment, most of these processes have inherent weaknesses. Biological treatments, however, are environmentally friendly, safe, and cost-effective. Biological treatments are based on bioconversion processes, which help with the recovery of valuable ingredients from by-catch, processing discards, and effluents, without losing their inherent bioactivities. Major bioconversion processes make use of microbial fermentations or actions of exogenously added enzymes on the waste components. Recent developments in algal biotechnology offer novel processes for biotransformation of nutrients as single cell proteins, which can be used as feedstock for the recovery of valuable ingredients and also biofuel. Bioconversion options in conjunction with a bio-refinery approach have potential for eco-friendly and economical management of seafood waste that can support sustainable seafood production.

Fraud in highly appreciated fish detected from DNA in Europe may undermine the Development Goal of sustainable fishing in Africa

Despite high effort for food traceability to ensure safe and sustainable consumption, mislabeling persists on seafood markets. Determining what drives deliberate fraud is necessary to improve food authenticity and sustainability. In this study, the relationship between consumer’s appreciation and fraudulent mislabeling was assessed through a combination of a survey on consumer’s preferences (N = 1608) and molecular tools applied to fish samples commercialized by European companies. We analyzed 401 samples of fish highly consumed in Europe and worldwide (i.e. tuna, hake, anchovy, and blue whiting) through PCR-amplification and sequencing of a suite of DNA markers. Results revealed low mislabeling rate (1.9%), with a higher mislabeling risk in non-recognizable products and significant mediation of fish price between consumer´s appreciation and mislabeling risk of a species. Furthermore, the use of endangered species (e.g. Thunnus thynnus), tuna juveniles for anchovy, and still not regulated Merluccius polli hake as substitutes, points towards illegal, unreported and/or unregulated fishing from African waters. These findings reveal a worrying intentional fraud that hampers the goal of sustainable seafood production and consumption, and suggest to prioritize control efforts on highly appreciated species.

Can U.S. import regulations reduce IUU fishing and improve production practices in aquaculture?

Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a significant challenge to sustainable seafood production which is difficult to address in traditional governance systems. Recently, the U.S. has implemented a Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) to combat IUU fishing and seafood fraud by requiring chain-of-custody documentation of 13 species when imported to the U.S. This will exclude IUU seafood from the U.S. market. If the U.S. has market power due to large imports, it will also give exporters incentives to improve management to comply with the SIMP. However, if the U.S. has no market power, the effect of the SIMP will be a change in trade patterns and the costs associated with the SIMP will be carried by U.S. consumers in the form of higher prices and lower seafood consumption. In this paper, a residual supply approach is used to investigate whether the U.S. has buyer power for three species included in the SIMP: shrimp, crab, and tuna. The standard residual supply framework is augmented to account for exchange rates. The results indicate that the U.S. has buyer power for most products. Hence, the SIMP will give incentives to improve the management practices in the investigated supply chains.

The effects of depth and diet on red abalone growth and survival in cage mariculture at San Jeronimo Island, Baja California, Mexico

In recent decades, global abalone aquaculture has significantly increased, while wild abalone fishery landings have decreased drastically, shifting production from fishing to farming. In California (USA) and Baja California (Mexico), overfishing and climate changelinked diseases are thought to be responsible for mass mortalities and significant declines in abalone fisheries landings. Conservation aquaculture is an option for enhancing abalone populations through captive propagation and cage mariculture with subsequent restockings into the wild. To test, inform, and promote innovative sustainable seafood production strategies in the Northeastern Pacific, we designed an experimental mariculture system at San Jeronimo Island, Baja California. We explored the feasibility of rearing juvenile red abalone, Haliotis rufescens, in a near-shore mariculture cage-based production system to supply individuals for local restoration programs. We tested the effects of 2 different depths, surface and bottom (5 m), and 3 macroalgal diets (Macrocystis pyrifera, Eisenia arborea, and a mixed diet of Pelagophycus porra with M. pyrifera) on the survival and growth of juvenile red abalone (32 ± 3.33 mm in shell length) inside cages attached to a long-line system. Over the 90-d experiment, survival was 99% for the surface treatment and 95% for the bottom treatment. Mean daily increment in shell length was 93 ± 12 µm·d–1 in surface cages and 82 ± 13 µm·d–1 in bottom cages. Depth did not affect growth or survival. Growth was highest using the E. arborea diet (99 ± 7 µm·d–1) but not significantly different from the M. pyrifera and mixed diets (88 ± 10 and 74 ± 13 µm·d–1, respectively). High survivorship and growth indicate that San Jeronimo Island can support cage-based mariculture of red abalone and that this strategy may be a useful tool in developing climate-resilient abalone restoration solutions aimed at bolstering seafood production.

Fisheries in Chinese seas: What can we learn from controversial official fisheries statistics?

China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, unless specified) is the greatest contributor to the total catch of global marine fisheries. As such, data about the degrees of exploitation and developmental dynamics of its fisheries are essential to evaluate and guide future sustainable seafood production and policy implementation and adjustments. In this study, we summarized the national official statistic data on domestic marine fisheries (including both marine capture fisheries and mariculture) from the earliest available year, 1950, to the latest year, 2014, using on the China Fishery Statistical Yearbooks. We also conducted analyses to understand the historical and current statuses of Chinese marine fisheries and their developmental trends. Domestic marine capture fisheries are declining and will continue to decline because of the current degradation and loss of coastal habitats, mainly due to coastal development and pollution and the over-exploitation of coastal natural resources. In contrast, mariculture has demonstrated promise as an approach to increase seafood production. However, given the wide latitudinal range of domestic seas in China, global climate change may impact China’s marine natural resources. We highlight that effective management measures and long-term monitoring are essential for the sustainability of domestic marine capture fisheries. Moreover, environmentally-friendly practices in mariculture should be enhanced and species introduction carefully monitored to achieve sustainable development.

Study on water and soil quality parameters of shrimp and prawn farming in the southwest region of Bangladesh

Water and soil quality parameters play a vital role for sustainable shrimp and prawn production which together is the leading exportable seafood product in Bangladesh contributing to a significant amount of foreign currency earnings. However, this sector is often negatively criticized by the consumers of importing countries for farm (locally called gher in Bengali) environment. In this context, an investigation was carried out to assess water and soil quality parameters of shrimp and prawn farms in southwest Bangladesh. This study was conducted at Dumuria and Paickgacha Upazila of Khulna district during dry and wet season in 2012. The data were collected from 9 shrimp and prawn farms and they were categorized in three different groups (as treatments) including 3 prawn (T1), 3 shrimp & prawn (T2) and 3 shrimp farms (T3). Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, alkalinity, salinity, total phosphorous and total hardness were measured using portable advanced HACH water quality test kit in both dry and wet season. Farm soil (sediment) quality parameters including pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen and available phosphorus were measured in the laboratory in wet season. It was found that most of the water quality parameters were in suitable range in both seasons for prawn, shrimp & prawn and shrimp farming. However, the ammonia content was 0.009 to 0.45 ppm and 0.2 to 0.6 ppm in shrimp farm during dry and wet season, respectively which was higher than the other category of farms. The higher ammonia content in shrimp farm might be due to the decomposition of aquatic weeds, organic matter, uneaten feed etc. creating stress to shrimp. Different co-relationships found between the water quality parameters in all the farming systems in the both seasons. In terms of soil quality parameters such as pH, organic carbon and total nitrogen, there was no significant difference between the farm categories. However, available phosphorous content was significantly higher in shrimp & prawn farm. Phosphorous content was found negatively correlated with pH and organic carbon content of farm sediment (soil). From the present study, it could be argued that ammonia is the main problem for shrimp farms that may cause severe disease outbreak which need to be addressed from the view point of research and development towards sustainable seafood production in Bangladesh.J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 13(1): 153-160, June 2015

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.

Integrated environmental assessment of fisheries management: Swedish Nephrops trawl fisheries evaluated using a life cycle approach

Fisheries management needs to broaden its perspective to achieve sustainable resource use. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an ISO standardized method to evaluate the environmental impacts of products using a broad and systematic approach. In this study, the outcome of a management regime promoting species-selective trawling in Swedish Nephrops trawl fisheries was studied using LCA methodology by quantifying the impacts per kilogram of landing using two different fishing methods. Demersal trawling has previously been found to be both energy intensive and destructive in terms of seafloor impact and discards. It is demonstrated that species-selective trawling fulfils management objectives, although with tradeoffs in terms of fuel consumption and associated GHG emissions. To prioritize between impacts, one must be aware of and quantify these potential tradeoffs. LCA could be an important tool for defining sustainable seafood production as it can visualize a broad range of impacts and facilitate integrated, transparent decision making in the seafood industry. It is also concluded that, with current LCA methodology, use of total discarded mass could increasingly be distinguished from potential impact by applying two new concepts: primary production requirements and threatened species affected.

Estimating preferences for non-market attributes of aquaculture and sustainable seafood production: methods and empirical applications

If aquaculture is to promote sustainable seafood production, the public must be willing to accept associated tradeoffs. Tradeoffs may include impacts on a variety of environmental and social attributes. Public preferences for aquaculture may differ according to type of operation, species, region, and other factors. Stated preference methods can assist policymakers in designing balanced, beneficial, and widely-supported aquaculture projects. This paper discusses the use of stated preference methodology to assess tradeoffs associated with aquaculture. An application to sustainable seafood production highlights both the methodology and results associated with such methods.

THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT CONCEPT FOR SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD PRODUCTION: A REVIEW

The capacity of marine and coastal ecosystems to sustain seafood production and consumption is seldom accounted for. In this article, we review estimates of marine and coastal areas appropriated by aquaculture and fisheries for seafood production, and also by cities and whole regions for seafood consumption. The appropriated ecosystem area—the ecological footprint—ranges from negligible to as much as 50 000 ha/ha activity, largely depending on the methods of farming and fishing. The area for waste assimilation ranges from 2 to 275 ha/ha seafood production. The human population of the Baltic Sea region (85 × 106 people) appropriate for their seafood consumption an area of marine ecosystems that corresponds to two additional Baltic Sea areas. Twenty percent of the global human population (1.1 × 109 people), living in large cities worldwide, appropriate 25% of the globally available area of productive coastal and marine ecosystems. The capacity of marine and coastal ecosystems to produce seafood is not included in the signals that guide economic development. Practices that make use of this capacity without degrading it have to be developed and protected from economic and social driving forces that create incentives for misuse of coastal and marine ecosystems.

The Ecological Footprint Concept for Sustainable Seafood Production: A Review

The Ecological Footprint Concept for Sustainable Seafood Production: A Review