Of discussions -- Comment -- 9.3 Workshop 3: Trondheim, November 22-23, 2001 -- 9.4 Workshop 4: Reykjavík, March 21-22, 2002 -- Sigurjón Arason and Eva Yngvadóttir: Development -- Peter Tyedmers: Estimating fuel inputs to North Atlantic Fisheries -- Harald Ellingsen: Energy use in the Norwegian fishing fleet and sustainable vessel technology and fleet structure -- Friederike Ziegler: Environmental assessment of seafood with a life cycle perspective -- Bryndís Skuladottír, Halla Jónsdóttir, Helga E -- Frans Silvenius: LCA of rainbow trout cultivation.

This study aims to assess the environmental impacts of canned sardines in olive oil, by considering fishing, processing, and packaging, using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The case study concerns a product of a canning factory based in Portugal and packed in aluminum cans. It is the first LCA of a processed seafood product made with the traditional canning method. The production of both cans and olive oil are the most important process in the considered impact categories. The production of olives contributes to the high environmental load of olive oil, related to cultivation and harvesting phases. The production of aluminum cans is the most significant process for all impact categories, except ozone depletion potential and eutrophication potential, resulting from the high energy demand and the extraction of raw materials. To compare to other sardine products consumed in Portugal, such as frozen and fresh sardines, transport to the wholesaler and store was added. The environmental cost of canned sardines is almost seven times higher per kilogram of edible product. The main action to optimize the environmental performance of canned sardines is therefore to replace the packaging and diminish the olive oil losses as much as possible. Greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by half when plastic packaging is considered rather than aluminum. Frozen and fresh sardines represent much lower environmental impacts than canned sardines. Nevertheless, when other sardine products are not possible, it becomes feasible to use sardines for human consumption, preventing them from being wasted or used suboptimally as feed.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) of two Senegalese seafood products exported to Europe has been undertaken based on the functional unit of one kilogram of product (frozen whole shrimps, independent of size) plus the accompanying packaging at the point of import to Europe, i.e. transported by boat to Vigo, Spain. The products are exchangeable on the European market, but the way they reach this market from the fishery over processing is very different. One product is produced through on-board processing on demersal trawlers based in Dakar fishing at sea in FAO fishing zone 34 (eastern central Atlantic), then landed and stored before being exported to Europe. The other product originates in artisanal fisheries in the Casamance River in southern Senegal. Fishing takes place to similar extents by the two fishing methods: Mujas, a fixed trawl set in the deepest part of the river from a canoe, and Félé-félé, a type of driftnet managed by three men in a canoe. The shrimps are landed and transported to a processing plant in Ziguinchor where they are washed, packed and frozen before land transportation to Dakar, storage and finally shipment to Europe. The three fisheries included (trawl, Mujas and Félé-félé) were shown to have highly different catch compositions. Each fishing method has advantages and drawbacks from a biological point of view, i.e. proportion of discard, landed bycatch and small shrimps in the catch. LCA results showed major differences between the two final products, with regard to resource use and environmental impact, depending on their origin. For the product originating in trawling, fishing was the most important activity in all categories of environmental impact. For the product originating in the artisanal fishery, fishing was the most important activity from a biological point of view. In contrast, processing and storage dominated the two categories: global warming and ozone depletion potential. The main areas to improve regarding these categories in the production chain of the trawled product are the use of fuel and refrigerants on board, while the main areas for improvement in the chain of the artisanal product are the use of energy and refrigerants in the processing plant and the energy source used by the plant. Both on board the trawlers and in the mainland processing of artisanal shrimps, considerable amounts of refrigerants with a high global warming and ozone depletion potential are used to freeze the shrimp products. In both chains, transportation was found to be of minor importance. Increased traceability and labelling is also desirable to enable active consumer choices between products.

Greenhouse gas emissions caused by food production are receiving increased attention worldwide. A problem with many studies is that they only consider one product; methodological differences also make it difficult to compare results across studies. Using a consistent methodology to ensure comparability, we quantified the carbon footprint of more than 20 Norwegian seafood products, including fresh and frozen, processed and unprocessed cod, haddock, saithe, herring, mackerel, farmed salmon, and farmed blue mussels. The previous finding that fuel use in fishing and feed production in aquaculture are key inputs was confirmed. Additional key aspects identified were refrigerants used on fishing vessels, product yield, and by-product use. Results also include that product form (fresh or frozen) only matters when freezing makes slower transportation possible. Processing before export was favorable due to the greater potential to use by-products and the reduced need for transportation. The most efficient seafood product was herring shipped frozen in bulk to Moscow at 0.7 kilograms CO equivalents per kilogram (kg CO-eq/kg) edible product. At the other end we found fresh gutted salmon airfreighted to Tokyo at 14 kg CO-eq/kg edible product. This wide range points to major differences between seafood products and room for considerable improvement within supply chains and in product choices. In fisheries, we found considerable variability between fishing methods used to land the same species, which indicates the importance of fisheries management favoring the most resource-efficient ways of fishing. Both production and consumption patterns matter, and a range of improvements could benefit the carbon performance of Norwegian seafood products.

In this study we discuss impact categories and indicators to incorporate local ecological impacts into life cycle assessment (LCA) for aquaculture. We focus on the production stages of salmon farming -- freshwater hatcheries used to produce smolts and marine grow-out sites using open netpens. Specifically, we propose two impact categories: impacts of nutrient release and impacts on biodiversity. Proposed indicators for impacts of nutrient release are (1) the area altered by farm waste, (2) changes in nutrient concentration in the water column, (3) the percent of carrying capacity reached, (4) the percent of total anthropogenic nutrient release, and (5) release of wastes into freshwater. Proposed indicators for impacts on biodiversity are (1) the number of escaped salmon, (2) the number of reported disease outbreaks, (3) parasite abundance on farms, and (4) the percent reduction in wild salmon survival. For each proposed indicator, an example of how the indicator could be estimated is given and the strengths and weaknesses of that indicator are discussed. We propose that including local environmental impacts as well as global-scale ones in LCA allows us to better identify potential trade-offs, where actions that are beneficial at one scale are harmful at another, and synchronicities, where actions have desirable or undesirable effects at both spatial scales. We also discuss the potential applicability of meta-analytic statistical techniques to LCA.