Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Mediterranean Sea Bass and Sea Bream

Evangelos Kallitsis, Anna Korre, Dimitris Mousamas and Pavlos Avramidis
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Evangelos Kallitsis: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Anna Korre: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Dimitris Mousamas: Selonda SA, Markopoulou, 19002 Paiania, Greece
Pavlos Avramidis: Department of Geology, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-11

Abstract: The aquaculture sector is the fastest growing food production industry, with sea bass and sea bream consisting important exporting goods in the Mediterranean region. This work presents results of a life cycle assessment of Mediterranean sea bass and sea bream, based on primary data collected from a Greek producer. The system boundary included fish feed production and the rearing operation, as well as the packaging and delivery processes, which were neglected in preceding literature studies. The life cycle inventory developed addressed previous data gaps in the production of Mediterranean aquaculture species. Comparison to preceding studies revealed differences on the production inventories and identified methodological choices leading to variability. Packaging and delivery processes were found to contribute approximately 40% towards the global warming score. The production of both sea bass and sea bream was shown to come with high eutrophication impacts occurring from the rearing stage. The feed production was identified as the most environmental impact intensive process throughout the life cycle. Sea bass came with lower environmental impacts per unit live mass, which was reversed when the species were compared on a protein basis. The replicable and transparent model presented here, contributes towards the more accurate quantification of the environmental impacts associated with Mediterranean aquaculture species and supports efforts aiming to promote environmental protection through dietary change.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; environmental impact; fish farming; sea bass; sea bream (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:22:p:9617-:d:447125

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