Life Cycle Assessment of Icelandic Arctic Char Fed Three Different Feed Types

This study utilized Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify the environmental impacts of 1 kg of live-weight Arctic char, cultivated in an Icelandic land-based aquaculture farm. The functional unit included assessments of three different feed types; standard feed with high inclusion levels of marine ingredients (Conv.), experimental feed with high inclusion levels of agricultural ingredients (ECO) and a hypothetical Black soldier fly larvae based feed (BSF). Results of the study indicated that the feed production causes the greatest environmental impacts from all feed types considered. The Black soldier fly based feed demonstrated the best environmental performance of the three feed types. Furthermore, it can be concluded that by increasing agriculture based ingredients at the cost of marine based ingredients, a better environmental performance can be reached. This study demonstrated the importance of feed production for aquaculture in terms of environmental impacts and showed that byoptimizing feed consumption, reducing the amount of fishmeal and fish oil and even creating new types of feed from novel ingredients, the overall impacts of aquaculture can be greatly reduced.The study was conducted as a part of MSc studies in Environmental and Natural Resources at the University of Iceland, in collaboration with Matis ltd., Icelandic food and biotech R&D, which also funded the project. The authors are grateful for the financial and expert support provided by both entities. The authors would also like to thank the owner of the aquaculture company involved in the study, for clear and concise data provision, and also other companies that provided data for this study.Peer Reviewe

Feeding black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) reared on organic rest streams alters gut characteristics of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

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Torula yeast in the diet of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar and the impact on growth performance and gut microbiome

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Fiskeldi og Umhverfið. Vistferilsgreining á íslenskri eldisbleikju með þremur mismunandi fóðurtegundum

With ever growing consumption the world tries to supply food for a population exceeding 7 billion. Aquaculture has been heralded for its potential to meet this huge increase in food demand and is therefore a large contributor to feed the world. It continues to be the fastest growing animal food production sector, accounting for 45.6% of the world‘s fish consumption in 2011. However, according to WWF one-third of global wild-caught fish is processed into fishmeal and fish oil used in large quantities for fish feed. This puts the sustainability of wild fisheries under threat while the environmental impacts of aquaculture are increasingly criticized and analyzed. This study utilized Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify the environmental impacts of 1 kg of live-weight Arctic char, cultivated in an Icelandic land-based aquaculture farm. The functional unit included assessments of three different feed types; Conventional feed, ECO feed and the Black soldier fly feed. Results of the study indicate that the feed production causes the greatest environmental impacts from all feed types considered. The Black soldier fly feed demonstrated the best environmental performance of the three feed types. Furthermore, it can be concluded that by increasing agriculture based ingredients at the cost of marine based ingredients, a better environmental performance can be reached. This study also confirmed that the transportation of materials needed for the aquaculture process, including the feed materials, has very low environmental impacts. Transporting by air causes immense environmental impacts compared to sea transport. This study demonstrated the importance of feed production for aquaculture in terms of environmental impacts and showed that by decreasing the amount of feed consumed, reducing the amount of fishmeal and fish oil and even creating new types of feed from other forms of biotic ingredients can greatly reduce the overall impacts of aquaculture.Með vaxandi neyslu reynir heimurinn að sjá fyrir 7 milljörðum jarðabúa. Fiskeldi hefur verið hampað fyrir þann möguleika að mæta þeirri gríðarlegu aukningu sem hefur verið í neyslu sjávarfangs og hefur átt stóran þátt í því að fæða heiminn á undanförnum árum. Það heldur áfram að vaxa hraðast af öllum matvælaframleiðslugreinum og stendur fyrir 45,6% af allri fiskneyslu í heiminum árið 2011. Samkvæmt WWF er 1/3 hluti af öllum veiddum fiski unninn í fiskmjöl og lýsi sem notað er í stórum stíl við gerð fóðurs. Þetta setur sjálfbærni villtra fiskistofna í hættu um leið og gagnrýni á umhverfisáhrif af fiskeldi fer vaxandi. Þessi rannsókn notaðist við Vistferilsgreiningu (Life Cycle Assessment, LCA) til að mæla umhverfisáhrif af 1 kg af lifandi bleikju, sem ræktuð er í íslenskri landeldisstöð. Aðgerðareiningin innihélt mat á þremur mismunandi gerðum af fóðri; Conventional fóður, ECO fóður og Black soldier fly fóður. Niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar benda til þess að fóðurframleiðslan veldur mestum umhverfisáhrifum með öllum fóðurgerðum, en Black soldier fly fóðrið olli minnstum áhrifum. Með því að auka innihaldsefni í fóðri úr plönturíkinu á kostnað sjávarafurða má lækka umhverfisáhrif töluvert. Þessi rannsókn leiddi einnig í ljós að flutningur á hráefni sem notaður er í fiskeldisferlinu, þar með talið hráefni í fóður, hefur mjög lítil umhverfisáhrif miðað við aðra ferla. Flutningur með flugi veldur gríðarlegum umhverfisáhrifum miðað við sjóflutning. Þessi rannsókn sýndi að framleiðsla á fóðri er gríðarlega mikilvægt ferli þegar talað er um umhverfisáhrif af fiskeldi. Hún sýndi jafnframt að með því að minnka það fóður sem fiskar borða, minnka hlutfall fiskimjöls og lýsis og jafnvel að gera nýtt fóður úr annarskonar lífrænum innihaldsefnum getur minnkað verulega umhverfisáhrif af fiskeldi.Matís ohf

Grafreitir 21. aldar: athugun á kostum blandaðrar landnotkunar í Naustaborgum við Akureyri

Markmið þessa verkefnis er að gera könnun á því hvort Naustaborgir sé hentugur staður fyrir grafreit á 21. Öldinni. Naustaborgir er útivistasvæði innan bæjarmarka Akureyrar. Svæðið er tilgreint sem óbyggt svæði í gildandi aðalskipulagi og vantar því nýja landnotkun. Nálgunin er að brjóta upp hið hefðbundna form kirkjugarða og sameina það svæði sem tilbúið er af náttúrunnar hendi, og býður upp á allt það sem nútíma grafreitur þarf upp á að bjóða. Tilurð verkefnisins má rekja til þess að Akureyringum vantar nýjan grafreit árið 2020, og kirkjugarðsyfirvöldum er mikið í mun að vel takist til með skipulag nýs garðs. Til þess að svara spurningum og fylgja markmiðum verkefnisins var gerð greining á landkostum Naustaborga, sögu þess og tækifærum. Höfundur vann eftir þekktum aðferðum um landslagsgreiningu og notfærði sér ýmis gögn til kortavinnslu og greininga. Landslagsgreining tekur stærsta hluta verkefnisins enda margir þættir sem skoða þarf til þess að fá rétta mynd af landkostum svæðisins. Í verkefninu er fjallað stuttlega um sögu þróun greftrunar til þess að gefa hugmynd um hvaða stefnu grafarsiðir eru taka. Þær ályktanir sem höfundur dregur út frá niðurstöðum verkefnisins eru ótvíræðar. Naustaborgir henta sem grafreitur, og getur einnig þjónað sem útivistasvæði. Með nýju skipulagi og bættum áherslum ætti vel að vera hægt að tvinna saman grafarsvæði og útivistasvæði, því ljóst er að grafreiti heimsækja fleiri lifandi en látnir

Nordic Alternative Protein Potentials : Mapping of regional bioeconomy opportunities

Within agri- and aquaculture, a specific bioeconomy challenge – and a bioeconomy opportunity – has been identified concerning sustainable protein supply for livestock production and fish farming. Today, imported soy products are by far the most important protein source however several alternative ways of producing protein rich feed has been identified using regional resources. Production of legumes, pulses and grass can be expanded. Alternative protein rich sources include single cell protein (bacteria/fungi), macroalgae (seaweed), mussels and insects. Local protein production has a number of benefits in the form of generation of local jobs, reduction in the import of nutrients and in general boosting the bioeconomy. Many of the alternative ways of producing protein rich feed are still under development, this report therefor also includes recommendations concerning how to proceed

Future Opportunities for Bioeconomy : Focus on the West Nordic Region

This final report provides an overview of bioresources in the West Nordic region focusing on Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, their utilisation and future opportunities based on green growth. The report provides good basis for strategic identification of beneficial projects in the region. Based on the results, a specific action plan has been formed consisting of four main actions; 1. Create a West Nordic Bioeconomy panel, 2. Establish an interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence (CoE) for the West Nordic region, 3. Arctic bioeconomy II – Project focusing on opportunities in biotechnology and 4. Program focusing on “The Blue Bioeconomy”