Fishing for solutions. Environmental and operational assessment of selected Galician fisheries and their products

Fishing is the only hunting activity which is still maintained on an industrial level to sustain worldwide food demand. Currently, worldwide fisheries are suffering a series of hazards linked to overexploitation and increasing human demand for protein, causing a wide range of environmental impacts on marine ecosystems, such as stock depletion or ecosystem disruption. Moreover, the fishing industry has grown to an extent where the environmental burdens associated with on board and on land operational activities, such as fuel consumption by vessels or wastewater generated by canning factories, are also becoming important environmental concerns. From a regional perspective, Galicia (NW Spain), the main fishing region in the European Union (EU) in terms of landed fish and economic turnover, does not escape these global threats. Additionally, Galicia supplies the rest of Spain and other EU countries with important amounts of fresh and processed seafood

Review of Life-Cycle Approaches Coupled with Data Envelopment Analysis: Launching the CFP + DEA Method for Energy Policy Making

Life-cycle (LC) approaches play a significant role in energy policy making to determine the environmental impacts associated with the choice of energy source. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) can be combined with LC approaches to provide quantitative benchmarks that orientate the performance of energy systems towards environmental sustainability, with different implications depending on the selected LC + DEA method. The present paper examines currently available LC + DEA methods and develops a novel method combining carbon footprinting (CFP) and DEA. Thus, the CFP + DEA method is proposed, a five-step structure including data collection for multiple homogenous entities, calculation of target operating points, evaluation of current and target carbon footprints, and result interpretation. As the current context for energy policy implies an anthropocentric perspective with focus on the global warming impact of energy systems, the CFP + DEA method is foreseen to be the most consistent LC + DEA approach to provide benchmarks for energy policy making. The fact that this method relies on the definition of operating points with optimised resource intensity helps to moderate the concerns about the omission of other environmental impacts. Moreover, the CFP + DEA method benefits from CFP specifications in terms of flexibility, understanding, and reporting

Revisiting the LCA+DEA method in fishing fleets. How should we be measuring efficiency?

Life Cycle Assessment and Data Envelopment Analysis have been repeatedly combined in the literature as LCA+DEA method with the aim of enhancing the utility of life-cycle based methods in order to account for eco-efficiency verification and environmental impactminimization. Despite its evolution through time, it lacks specific standards that norm the combination of the two methods. In this sense, this study noted that its development has evolved in the frame of mainstream cultural perspectives to measure environmental impacts (i.e., hierarchist approaches). Therefore, the main objective of the study is to compare the benchmarking results obtained through DEA computation using different Cultural Theoryapproaches to calculate environmental impacts. For this, a case study for the Cantabrian purse seining fishing fleet was chosen. Hence, three different DEA matrices were constructed attending to the three main human visions on environmental issues: hierarchist, individualist and egalitarian. All three matrices represented the same set of inputs to be optimized, but differed in the nature of the output flow, representing landed fish, energy content or biomass removal. Results suggest that optimization of environmental impacts is strongly influenced by the cultural perspective selected. In the particular case of fishing fleets, benchmarking environmental impacts based on anthropocentric views may be ignoring the health of fishing stocks and the trophic complexity of the ecosystems. Methodological conclusions are directed towards the need to define more flexible and holistic frameworks in LCA+DEA modelling with the aim of enrichening the set of predetermined assumptions, including the Cultural Theory, to avoid biased interpretations.The authors thank the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government for their financial support via the project GeSAC-Conserva: Sustainable Management of the Cantabrian Anchovies (CTM2013-43539-R) and Yago Lorenzo-Toja, Sara González-García and Lucía Lijó for valuable scientific exchange. Jara Laso thanks the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spanish Government for their financial support through the research fellowship BES-2014-069368 and the Ministry of Rural Environment, Fisheries and Food of Cantabria for support with data collection. Reviewers are also thanked for the valuable and detailed suggestions

Introducing the Green Protein Footprint method as an understandable measure of the environmental cost of anchovy consumption

In a global framework of growing concern for food security and environmental protection, the selection of food products with higher protein content and lower environmental impact is a challenge. To assess the reliability of different strategies along the food supply chain, a measure of food cost through the environmental impact-protein content binomial is necessary. This study proposes a standardized method to calculate the Green Protein Footprint (GPF) index, a method that assesses both the environmental impact of a food product and its protein content provided to consumers. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used to calculate the environmental impact of the selected food products, and a Life Cycle Protein Assessment (LCPA) was performed by accounting for the protein content along the supply chain. Although the GPF can be applied to all food chain products, this paper is focused on European anchovy-based products for indirect human consumption (fishmeal) and for direct human consumption (fresh, salted and canned anchovies). Moreover, the circular economy concept was applied considering the valorization of the anchovy residues generated during the canning process. These residues were used to produce fishmeal, which was employed in bass aquaculture. Hence, humans are finally consuming fish protein from the residues, closing the loop of the original product life cycle. More elaborated, multi-ingredient food products (salted and canned anchovy products), presented higher GPF values due to higher environmental impacts. Furthermore, the increase of food loss throughout their life cycle caused a decrease in the protein content. Regarding salted and canned products, the packaging was the main hotspot. The influence of the packaging was evaluated using the GPF, reaffirming that plastic was the best alternative. These results highlighted the importance of improving packaging materials in food products.The authors thank the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government for their financial support via the projects GeSAC-Conserva: Sustainable Management of the Cantabrian Anchovies (CTM2013-43539-R) and CERES_Project: Food Production strategies for climate change mitigation: towards a food circular economy (CTM 2016-76176-C2-1-R). Authors thank Julia Celaya for her technical support. Jara Laso thanks the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spanish Government for their financial support via the research fellowship BES-2014-069368

Life cycle assessment of European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) landed by purse seine vessels in northern Spain

Purpose: The main purpose of this article is to assess the environmental impacts associated with the fishing operations related to European anchovy fishing in Cantabria (northern Spain) under a life cycle approach. Methods: The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was applied for this case study including construction, maintenance, use, and end of life of the vessels. The functional unit used was 1 kg of landed round anchovy at port. Inventory data were collected for the main inputs and outputs of 32 vessels, representing a majority of vessels in the fleet. Results and discussion: Results indicated, in a similar line to what is reported in the literature, that the production, transportation, and use of diesel were the main environmental hot spots in conventional impact categories. Moreover, in this case, the production and transportation of seine nets was also relevant. Impacts linked to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions suggest that emissions were in the upper range for fishing species captured with seine nets and the value of global warming potential (GWP) was 1.44 kg CO2 eq per functional unit. The ecotoxicity impacts were mainly due to the emissions of antifouling substances to the ocean. Regarding fishery-specific categories, many were discarded given the lack of detailed stock assessments for this fishery. Hence, only the biotic resource use category was computed, demonstrating that the ecosystems' effort to sustain the fishery is relatively low. Conclusions: The use of the LCA methodology allowed identifying the main environmental hot spots of the purse seining fleet targeting European anchovy in Cantabria. Individualized results per port or per vessel suggested that there are significant differences in GHG emissions between groups. In addition, fuel use is high when compared to similar fisheries. Therefore, research needs to be undertaken to identify why fuel use is so high, particularly if it is related to biomass and fisheries management or if skipper decisions could play a role.The authors thank the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government for their financial support via the project GeSAC-Conserva: Sustainable Management of the Cantabrian Anchovies (CTM2013-43539-R) and to Pedro Villanueva-Rey for valuable scientific exchange. Jara Laso thanks the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spanish Government for their financial support via the research fellowship BES-2014-069368 and to the Ministry of Rural Environment, Fisheries and Food of Cantabria for the data support. Dr. Ian Vázquez-Rowe thanks the Peruvian LCA Network for operational support. Reviewers are also thanked for the valuable and detailed suggestions. The work of Dr. Rosa M. Crujeiras has been funded by MTM2016-76969P (AEI/FEDER, UE)

Environmental performance of peruvian waste management systems under a life cycle approach

Peru generated in 2014 a total of 7.5 million metric tons of municipal solid waste (MSW). Of these, 47 % of residues ended up in open dumpsites and only 21 % were sent to controlled landfills. Efforts must be made to conduct a change from open dumpsites to sanitary landfills, reaching an adequate and sustainable waste management system. This study aims at meeting this challenge by means of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. In particular, the objective of this study is to develop a life cycle model that will allow the estimation of environmental impacts linked to waste landfilling in Peru, and to compare in further studies alternatives to determine a more environmentally sustainable solution. The model is flexible in order to be adapted to the three main geo-climatic regions in Peru: the hyper-arid coast, the Andean Highlands and the Amazon Rainforest. The life cycle model was developed with the EASETECH software, taking into account the phases of construction, operation and end-of-life the Peruvian landfills. The main parameters of this model include waste composition and the characteristics and treatment of the leachate and landfill gas, taking into consideration local parameters such as temperature, humidity and precipitation intensity. The model lays the foundation stone to determine the main hotspots in Peruvian sanitary landfills. This information will allow achieving an adequate and sustainable waste management by proposing improvement measures to help stakeholders in the decision-making process

The sustainable transformation of the Colombian cattle sector: Assessing its circularity

Circular food systems are increasingly acknowledged for their potential to contribute to the transition towards sustainable futures. In a circular food system, the use of finite and limited resources is minimized, and nutrients in residual streams and inedible biomass for humans are reused as inputs in the bioeconomy. Livestock has become relevant in this narrative for upcycling nutrients contained in food by-products and grass resources into nutritious food for humans without using human-edible resources. Evaluating on-going national sustainability initiatives in the livestock sector is key to determine if circularity elements are already represented and to identify new opportunities and pathways for the future. In this paper we synthetize the environmental actions promoted by different initiatives driving the sustainable transformation of Colombian cattle production systems and assess the inclusion of circularity elements in these actions. The proposed environmental actions were concentrated in the conservation of remaining natural ecosystems, zero-deforestation and the sustainable intensification of cattle production through silvopastoral and paddock rotational systems. Circularity was addressed by some initiatives via the use organic fertilizers and the use of manure as fertilizers or feedstock for bioenergy generation. However, given that cattle farming is often practiced in low-input systems where the collection of by-products for reutilization (e.g., manure) is not always feasible, these actions are expected to have limited impact in the sector. Silvopastoral systems can positively promote circularity by creating the conditions for internal nutrient recycling via litterfall, biological nitrogen fixation, phosphorus solubilization, and presence of beneficial insects. However, to avoid food-feed competition and to remain circular, these should only be installed in agricultural areas unsuitable for crop production. In areas where crops can grow, other production systems that prioritize the production of plant biomass for human consumption (i.e., agrosilvopastoral systems, mixed crop-livestock systems or forms of crop intercropping) should be considered

Water footprint assessment of food loss and waste management strategies in Spanish regions

The availability of freshwater is one of the biggest limitations and challenges of food production, as freshwater is an increasingly scarce and overexploited resource in many parts of the world. Therefore, the concept of water footprint (WF) has gained increasing interest, in the same way that the generation of food loss and waste (FLW) in food production and consumption has become a social and political concern. Along this line, the number of studies on the WF of the food production sector is currently increasing all over the world, analyzing water scarcity and water degradation as a single WF indicator or as a so-called WF profile. In Spain, there is no study assessing the influence of FLW generation along the whole food supply chain nor is there a study assessing the different FLW management options regarding the food supply chain’s WF. This study aimed to assess the spatially differentiated WF profile for 17 Spanish regions over time, analyzing the potential linkages of FLW management and water scarcity and water degradation. The assessment considered compliance and non-compliance with the Paris Agreement targets and was based on the life cycle assessment approach. Results are highlighted in a compliance framework; the scenarios found that anaerobic digestion and aerobic composting (to a lesser extent) had the lowest burdens, while scenarios with thermal treatment had the highest impact. Additionally, the regions in the north of Spain and the islands were less influenced by the type of FLW management and by compliance with the Paris Agreement targets.This study has been conducted thanks to the financial support of the Project Ceres-Procom: Food production and consumption strategies for climate change mitigation (CTM2016-76176-C2-1-R) (AEI/FEDER, UE), financed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain. Daniel Hoehn thanks the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government for their financial support via the research fellowship BES-2017-080296. Thanks are also due to the FCT/MCTES for the contracts granted to Paula Quinteiro (CEECIND/00143/2017) and for the financial support to CESAM (UIDB/50017/2020+UIDP/50017/2020) by means of national funds