Use of Life Cycle Assessment in Irish Freshwater Aquaculture Systems

Environ 24/03/2016

Ronan Cooney, Richard Walsh, Richard FitzGerald, Eoghan Clifford

Outline

Introduction

MOREFISH

Irish Freshwater Aquaculture

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Impact Categories

References and Acknowledgements

Questions

Intro: MOREFISH

DAFM funded project

Partnership between NUI, Galway and AIT

To improve production management and efficiencies through working with industry

Objectives:

Enhancing sustainability

Reducing environmental impacts

Improving fish health and reducing mortalities

Water usage

Use of novel technologies and processes – Microbubble aeration and PUV

IndustryPartners

Intro: MOREFISH II

Life Cycle Assessment of Irish freshwater aquaculture sites

Looking at various types of systems utilizing different water sources

Inflow Outflow Inflow

Flow Through Aquaculture SystemRecirculating Aquaculture System

Intro: Irish FW Aquaculture I

First hatchery, 1852 in Oughterard Co. Galway

Resurgence again in 1950’s

Focused mainly on salmonids

Salmo trutta,Salmo salar (Smolts), Oncorhynchus mykiss, Salvelinus alpinus

Licensing – DAFM and County Councils

Demand for fish products continues to rise

Annual output of salmonids at 15,000 tonnes pa

Freshwater output at 728 (2013)

Under Food Harvest 2020 increased to 45,000 tonnes

Intro: Irish FW Aquaculture II

Different aquaculture systems in use:

Raceways, Ponds, RAS, Semi-RAS, tanks.

Water sources:

River, lake, spring

Varying degrees of water treatment

Most extensive use in RAS

Intro:Life Cycle Assessment I

ISO 14040 and 14044

A technique used to assess the environmental impacts associated with all stages of a products life from cradle to grave.

Can assist in:

Identifying opportunities to improve environmental efficiencies

Inform decision-making

Selection of more relevant environmental performance

Marketing of a product (MSC, Certified Sustainable etc…)

Intro:Life Cycle Assessment II

Reference Species System Country Functional Unit System Boundary Allocation Method Aubin et al. 2006 Turbot RAS France 1 ton live weight Farm Gate Economic Value

Aubin et al. 2009 Rainbow, sea-bass and turbot

Various France 1 ton live weight Farm Gate Economic Value

D’Orbcastel et al. 2009

Trout Various Model (France)

1 ton live weight Farm Gate Economic Value

Pelletier and Tyedmers 2007

Atlantic Salmon Salmon feeds Canada 1 ton live weight Farm Gate Gross Nutritional Energy

Ayer and Tyedmers 2009

Atlantic Salmon and Arctic Char

Various Canada 1 ton live weight Farm Gate Gross Nutritional Energy

Pelletier et al. 2009

Atlantic Salmon Cage Global 1 ton live weight Farm Gate Gross Nutritional Energy

Pelletier and Tyedmers 2010

Tilapia Net cage and Ponds

Indonesia 1 ton fillets Market Gross Nutritional Energy

Mungkung 2005 Shrimps Ponds Thailand 1.8kg shrimp tails Waste Economic Value

Gronroos et al. 2006

Rainbow Net Cage Finland 1 ton dead weight Farm Gate Mass

Ellingsen and Aanondsen 2006

Atlantic Salmon Net Cage Norway 200 gram fillet Market Mass/Economic Value

Iribarren et al. 2010

Blue Mussels Rafts Spain 1kg of dry mussel flesh Consumer System Expansion

Phong 2010 Various Ponds, integrated

Vietnam 1kg of live fish/ 1 kcal Farm Gate Economic Value

Martins et al. 2010

Various RAS Various N/a N/a N/a

Samuel-Fitwi wt al. 2013

Rainbow Various Germany & Denmark

1 ton live weight Farm Gate System Expansion

Samuel-Fitwi, Schroeder & Schulz 2013

Rainbow Various Germany 1 ton live weight Farm Gate System Expansion

Impact Category Frequency Used

Global Warming Potential 12

Acidification 12

Eutrophication 12

Energy Use 8

Biotic Resource Use 6

Marine Aquatic Ecotoxicity 4

Abiotic Depletion Potential 3

Ozone Depletion Potential 3

Human Toxicity 3

Water Dependence 2

Photochemical Oxidant Formation 2

Freshwater Aquatic Ecotoxicity 2

Terrestrial Ecotoxicity 2

Surface Use 2

Respiratory Impacts From Inorganics 1

Carcinogenic Effects on Humans 1

Impact Categories

Planning to assess 6 categories:

1. Global Warming Potential (GWP)

2. Acidification Potential (AP)

3. Water Dependence (WD)

4. Eutrophication Potential (EP)

5. Energy Use

6. Biodiversity Impact Potential (BIP)

Biodiversity Impact Potential

Distinct lack of use in LCA

Despite being one of the key indicators for sustainability

Address sustainability issues – impacts on habitats and species

Planned to take a multifaceted approach to assess the impact

Focus on WFD techniques

Emphasis on freshwater ecology

Rates/levels of water use

Inputs Vs Outputs

Summary

LCA of most common types of aquaculture systems in Ireland

Baseline study

Evaluate environmental performance of freshwater aquaculture

Looking at BIP – in depth

Acknowledgements

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Team members of MOREFISH

Industry partners

ReferencesLiterature:

Asche, F., Roheim, C. A., & Smith, M. D. (2015). Trade intervention: Not a silver bullet to address environmental externalities in global aquaculture.Marine Policy.

Caffrey, J. M. (1986). Macrophytes as biological indicators of organic pollution in Irish rivers. Biological indicators of pollution Royal Irish Academy, 77-87.

Cao, L., Diana, J. S., & Keoleian, G. A. (2013). Role of life cycle assessment in sustainable aquaculture. Reviews in Aquaculture, 5(2), 61-71

Ecosystems and human well-being. Vol. 5. Washington, DC:: Island press, 2005

Ellingsen, H., & Aanondsen, S. A. (2006). Environmental impacts of wild caught cod and farmed Salmon-a comparison with chicken (7 pp). The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 11(1), 60-65.

Henriksson, P. J., Guinée, J. B., Kleijn, R., & de Snoo, G. R. (2012). Life cycle assessment of aquaculture systems—a review of methodologies. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 17(3), 304-313.

Ottinger, M., Clauss, K., & Kuenzer, C. (2016). Aquaculture: Relevance, distribution, impacts and spatial assessments–A review. Ocean & Coastal Management, 119, 244-266.

Pelletier, N., Tyedmers, P., Sonesson, U., Scholz, A., Ziegler, F., Flysjo, A., ... & Silverman, H. (2009). Not all salmon are created equal: life cycle assessment (LCA) of global salmon farming systems. Environmental Science & Technology, 43(23), 8730-8736.

Penman, T. D., Law, B. S., & Ximenes, F. (2010). A proposal for accounting for biodiversity in life cycle assessment. Biodiversity and conservation,19(11), 3245-3254.

Samuel-Fitwi, B., Schroeder, J. P., & Schulz, C. (2013). System delimitation in life cycle assessment (LCA) of aquaculture: striving for valid and comprehensive environmental assessment using rainbow trout farming as a case study. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 18(3), 577-589.

Vannote, R. L., Minshall, G. W., Cummins, K. W., Sedell, J. R., & Cushing, C. E. (1980). The river continuum concept. Canadian journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences, 37(1), 130-137.

Wilkins, Noel P. (1989). Ponds, passes and parcs: aquaculture in Victorian Ireland, ISBN 0-907606-65-2

Images:

Earth Pond Image: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/nerc/assets/images/photos/fish-farm-scotland400x250.jpg

Rainbow Trout drawing: https://www.thefishinhole.com/imagesProducts/big/3842800.jpg

Perla: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/SteinfliegenLarve2.JPG

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