Environmental analysis of the Norwegian fishery and aquaculture industry—A preliminary study focusing on farmed salmon

Ellingsen, Harald; Olaussen, Jon Olaf; Utne, Ingrid Bouwer

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2008.11.003

Cited by 59 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…Others have reported higher numbers. Ellingsen et al (2008) reported 2.3 kg CO2 eq/kg of salmon fillet leaving the slaughterhouse and Ytrestøyl et al (2011) reported 2.6 kg CO2 eq/kg edible product where the feed production contributed to 96% of the total carbon footprint. Since the system boundaries and farming techniques are not exactly the same for any of these studies, it is hard to draw a conclusion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Smárason

Ögmundarson

Árnason

et al. 2017

Turk. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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This study utilized Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify the environmental impacts of 1 kg of live-weight Arctic char, cultivated in an Icelandic land-based aquaculture farm. The functional unit included assessments of three different feed types; standard feed with high inclusion levels of marine ingredients (Conv.), experimental feed with high inclusion levels of agricultural ingredients (ECO) and a hypothetical Black soldier fly larvae based feed (BSF). Results of the study indicated that the feed production causes the greatest environmental impacts from all feed types considered. The Black soldier fly based feed demonstrated the best environmental performance of the three feed types. Furthermore, it can be concluded that by increasing agriculture based ingredients at the cost of marine based ingredients, a better environmental performance can be reached. This study demonstrated the importance of feed production for aquaculture in terms of environmental impacts and showed that byoptimizing feed consumption, reducing the amount of fishmeal and fish oil and even creating new types of feed from novel ingredients, the overall impacts of aquaculture can be greatly reduced.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Smárason

Ögmundarson

Árnason

et al. 2017

Turk. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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“…The framework has been previously adapted and applied to evaluate crop agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, and aquaculture production systems (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not All Salmon Are Created Equal: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Global Salmon Farming Systems

Pelletier

Tyedmers

Sonesson

et al. 2009

Environ. Sci. Technol.

244

210

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We present a global-scale life cycle assessment of a major food commodity, farmed salmon. Specifically, we report the cumulative energy use, biotic resource use, and greenhouse gas, acidifying, and eutrophying emissions associated with producing farmed salmon in Norway, the UK, British Columbia (Canada), and Chile, as well as a production-weighted global average. We found marked differences in the nature and quantity of material/energy resource use and associated emissions per unit production across regions. This suggests significant scope for improved environmental performance in the industry as a whole. We identify key leverage points for improving performance, most notably the critical importance of least-environmental cost feed sourcing patterns and continued improvements in feed conversion efficiency. Overall, impacts were lowest for Norwegian production in most impact categories, and highest for UK farmed salmon. Our results are of direct relevance to industry, policy makers, eco-labeling programs, and consumers seeking to further sustainability objectives in salmon aquaculture.

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“…High pollution, global warming and scarcity of resources means that finding sustainable food options is more important than before. This combined with a general elevated awareness and focus on the environment (Ellingsen et al, 2009) drives science to look for new methods of protein production.…”

Section: Prefacementioning

confidence: 99%

Feed spreaders in sea cage aquaculture – Motion characterization and measurement of spatial pellet distribution using an unmanned aerial vehicle

Skøien

Alver

Zolich

et al. 2016

Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

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SummaryThe objective of this thesis was to gain new insight into the process of feeding in large scale sea cage aquaculture and investigate novel methods of feeding in order to increase profitability, welfare and minimize environmental impact.Compared to livestock farming, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar ) farming is a young industry which has experienced an almost exponential growth rate and the product continues to be in high demand. A single cage in Norway may contain more than a 1000 tonnes of fish in the form of 200.000 individuals. Such a figure is difficult to comprehend, but one may draw a parallel to the equivalent of 1600 cows inside a single cage. Feeding of fish kept in sea cages is a complicated endeavour compared to land based farming for a number of reasons. Thousands of individuals co-exist in a single three-dimensional dynamic space, observation is restricted to surface inspections or a submerged camera with limited field of view, feed can not be given to a specific fish and the location of feed is difficult to predict as a consequence of currents and fish induced turbulence. In addition, feed which is not consumed from the time it is distributed over the surface to it passes through the cage represents a direct economic loss and acts as an unnecessary nutrient discharge to the environment. Over 10.000 kg of feed may be administered to a single cage towards the end of a production cycle and is the single largest cost in Norwegian salmon farming. Even though the process of feeding is a complicated one, the systems used to distribute feed are simple. Significant effort has been made in determining the ration size, meal frequency and at what time of day Atlantic salmon should be fed.This thesis looks into the temporal feed availability on a meal to meal basis and goes into depth with respect to the spatial availability of feed within the sea cage. Many studies on a smaller scale indicate that spatially and temporally restrictive feeding may lead to unequal feed accessibility, loss of growth potential and elevated levels of aggression. With respect to controlling the spatial distribution of feed, it has been shown that current methods cover a small area of the cage surface. In addition, existing methods have limited ability to increase the feed distribution without exhibiting other detrimental effects such as increased pellet breakage. There is also no way of controlling where feed is placed as a consequence of wind iii Summary or currents. Experimental results are presented to better understand the dynamics of a feed spreader, a model has been developed and the performance of different spreader designs investigated. Further experimental results for settling rate and diffusion of pellets are presented and have been used to parametrize a full sea cage model. This model enables simulation of environmental factors, feeding methods and fish to predict the effect on central production parameters. Finally, using these two models, different feeding regimes are simulated and the consequent effects on spatiotem...

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Environmental analysis of the Norwegian fishery and aquaculture industry—A preliminary study focusing on farmed salmon

Cited by 59 publications

References 11 publications

Untitled

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Not All Salmon Are Created Equal: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Global Salmon Farming Systems

Feed spreaders in sea cage aquaculture – Motion characterization and measurement of spatial pellet distribution using an unmanned aerial vehicle

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