Quantification and characterization of the environmental impact of sea bream and sea bass production in Italy

Abstract

While the production of fish from aquaculture has grown steadily over the years worldwide, some environmental concerns have emerged. In this study, the environmental impacts and main hotspots of a typical Italian sea bass and sea bream offshore farm were analysed. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied with a “cradle to farm gate” perspective and 1 ton of fish at harvest size as the functional unit. The results confirm that feed is the main hotspot and contributes across impact categories always at least 60%, with the exception of marine eutrophication driven instead by nutrient emissions. In some impact categories, infrastructure and farm operations also have a relevant impact (about 30%). The impacts of this case study are slightly lower than those found in the literature, and this is mainly due to prior attention of the company to feed formulation. An alternative scenario was also explored, by reducing the amount of uningested feed, showing a reduction in the Global Warming Potential by 6% and in marine eutrophication by up to 10%. The application and evaluation of new technologies (e.g., automated feed dispenser, use of alternative cage materials) could be explored in future research.

Keywords

• Life cycle assessment
• Aquaculture
• Sea bass
• Sea bream
• Environmental impact