Exploratory analysis of resource demand and the environmental footprint of future aquaculture development using Life Cycle Assessment

Increases in fish demand in the coming decades are projected to be largely met by growth of aquaculture. However, increased aquaculture production is linked to higher demand for natural resources and energy as well as emissions to the environment. This paper explores the use of Life Cycle Assessment to improve knowledge of potential environmental impacts of future aquaculture growth. Different scenarios of future aquaculture development are taken into account in calculating the life cycle environmental impacts. The environmental impact assessments were built on Food and Agriculture Organization statistics in terms of production volume of different species, whereas the inputs and outputs associated with aquaculture production systems were sourced from the literature. The matrix of input-output databases was established through the Blue Frontiers study

Water Footprint and Impact of Water Consumption for Food, Feed, Fuel Crops Production in Thailand

The proliferation of food, feed and biofuels demands promises to increase pressure on water competition and stress, particularly for Thailand, which has a large agricultural base. This study assesses the water footprint of ten staple crops grown in different regions across the country and evaluates the impact of crop water use in different regions/watersheds by the water stress index and the indication of water deprivation potential. The ten crops include major rice, second rice, maize, soybean, mungbean, peanut, cassava, sugarcane, pineapple and oil palm. The water stress index of the 25 major watersheds in Thailand has been evaluated. The results show that there are high variations of crop water requirements grown in different regions due to many factors. However, based on the current cropping systems, the Northeastern region has the highest water requirement for both green water (or rain water) and blue water (or irrigation water). Rice (paddy) farming requires the highest amount of irrigation water, i.e., around 10,489 million m3/year followed by the maize, sugarcane, oil palm and cassava. Major rice cultivation induces the highest water deprivation, i.e., 1862 million m3H2Oeq/year; followed by sugarcane, second rice and cassava. The watersheds that have high risk on water competition due to increase in production of the ten crops considered are the Mun, Chi and Chao Phraya watersheds. The main contribution is from the second rice cultivation. Recommendations have been proposed for sustainable crops production in the future

Life Cycle Assessment for environmentally sustainable aquaculture management : a case study of combined aquaculture systems for carp and tilapia

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied to evaluate the potential environmental impacts associated with two-net cage aquaculture systems of common carp (Cyprinus carpio carpio) and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in the Cirata reservoir, Indonesia. The studied system included fingerling production in hatcheries, fish rearing in cages, and transport of fry and feed as well as that of harvested fish to markets. The environmental impact indicators were calculated based on the annual production in 2006-2007 using the CML2 Baseline 2000 method, and expressed per tonne of fresh fish delivered to the market. The rearing performances and the environmental efficiency of the system were highly dependent on the lake water quality. Therefore the location of the cages and associated practices influenced the environmental impacts. Feed was identified as the major contributor to land occupation, primary production use, acidification, climate change, energy use and water dependence. Those impacts were mainly linked to the production of fishmeal followed by the production of crop-based feed materials and the production of electricity for feed processing. Eutrophication was mainly the consequence of the fish growing stage and linked closely to nutrient loading from cages. Better feeding practices to reduce feed conversion ratio (FCR), as well as improvement of feed composition by using less fishmeal and more local plant-based materials along with improving energy efficiency of feed production processing should be implemented to improve the environmental profiles of carp and tilapia production. The reduction of FCR from 2.1 to 1.7 could decrease eutrophication by about 22%. However, it is of first priority to reduce the number of cages in order to improve the water quality of the reservoir. The comparison of Cirata reservoir fish culture to other sources of animal protein revealed that it generated average energy use but high eutrophication level. LCA was demonstrated to be a useful tool for decision-making when targeting improved environmental sustainability of cage aquaculture