MP11A Case Studies on Fisheries Products
C120-122
1:20 PM - 4:40 PM, Monday
() Life Cycle Assessment of a Swedish cod product.
Ziegler, Friederike*,101, Nilsson, P.1, 101 1 Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory, Göteborg University, Strömstad, Sweden
ABSTRACT- Life Cycle Assessment of a seafood product including fishery-specific types of environmental impact like seafloor use and discard will be presented. The product studied is a frozen block of cod fillets, mainly fished in the Baltic Sea by benthic trawls and gillnets. Fishery-specific issues like the impact on stocks of the target and by-catch species, seafloor impact and discarding are quantified in relation to the functional unit and qualitative impact assessment of these aspects was included in the study. Findings include that all environmental impact categories assessed were dominated by the fishery and later phases in the product life-cycle had minor impact on the overall results. The phases contributing most to total environmental impact following fishery were transports and preparation in the household. Conclusions are that there are considerable options for improvement of the environmental performance of the seafood production chain. In the fishery the most important environmental measure is to fish sustainably managed stocks. Development of improved gear, fuel and engine technology and implementation of modern technology in the fishing fleet would also contribute to decreased resource use and environmental impact caused by fishery. Due to the importance of fishery for the overall results, the most important environmental improvement option after landing is to maintain high quality and minimise product losses. The need for good baseline data concerning resource use and marine environmental impact of fisheries in order to perform environmental assessment of seafood products was demonstrated. LCA was shown to be a valuable tool for such assessments, which in the future could be used to improve the environmental performance of the seafood production chain, in the development of criteria of eco-labelling of seafood products originating in capture fisheries or in the design of sustainable management systems for fisheries.
Key words: seafood, cod, life cycle assessment, fishery