Estimating Carbon Footprint Under an Intensive Aquaculture Regime

Abstract

This chapter presents a method to assess the carbon footprint and edible protein content Energy Return On Investment ratio (ep-EROI) of one of the most important and representative fish species, namely, turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) cultivated in Spain under an intensive aquaculture regime. The analysis was performed considering a cradle-to-farm gate life cycle assessment (LCA). To do so, representative hatcheries, nurseries and turbot farms were inventoried in detail. The relative contribution to overall greenhouse gases (GHG) emission and cumulative energy demand (CED) were evaluated. The results indicated that intensive turbot farming has significant GHG emission and energy requirements mainly due to electricity and feed requirements. The subsystem related with hatching and nursing reports the highest contribution to the impacts under study. Regarding the ep-EROI, an average level of 0.38% was obtained for Spanish turbot, which is considerably low in comparison with other aquaculture species. Results from this study can be used to optimise and promote more sustainable turbot production chains.