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Environmental life cycle assessment of Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) caught along the Swedish west coast by creels and conventional trawls—LCA methodology with case study

  • LCA FOR ENERGY SYSTEMS AND FOOD PRODUCTS
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The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background, aim, and scope

Two fishing methods, creeling and conventional trawling, are used to target Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus), economically the second most important species in Swedish west coast fisheries. The goal was to evaluate overall resource use and environmental impact caused by production of this seafood with the two different fishing methods using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology.

Materials and methods

The inventory covered the entire chain starting by production of supply materials and the fishery itself, through seafood auctioning, wholesaling, retailing, to the consumer. That portion of the life cycle occurring on land was assumed to be identical for Norway lobsters regardless as to how they were caught. The functional unit was 300 g of edible meat (i.e., Norway lobster tails), corresponding to 1 kg of whole, boiled Norway lobsters. The seafloor impact of trawling was quantified using a recently developed methodology.

Results

Major differences were found between the fishing methods with regard to environmental impact: creeling was found to be more efficient than conventional trawling in all traditional impact categories and in the two additional fishery-related categories involving seafloor impact and discarding. Since the quality of the creel-caught Nephrops was higher, the difference was probably even higher than indicated here.

Discussion

Major improvement potential was identified in the more widespread use of creels and species-selective trawls. The only deficiencies of creel fishing were poorer working environment and safety, and a potentially higher risk of recruitment overfishing. However, these issues could be handled by technological development and fisheries regulations and should not hamper the development of creel fishery.

Conclusions

Improvement options were identified and quantified for the Swedish Nephrops fishery. The study demonstrates how LCA can be used to compare the environmental performance of different segments of a fishery.

Recommendations and perspectives

Shifting to creeling and species-selective trawling would lead to considerably lower discard, fuel use, and seafloor impact while providing consumers with the same amount of Norway lobsters.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all those who spent time helping us gather the data for this study. First and foremost, we thank the 19 anonymous fishermen who most kindly provided us with data by completing the questionnaire. We would also like to thank all those who helped gather data regarding the life cycle on land and all the on-board observers at the Institute of Marine Research, Lysekil, who helped us with data collection. The Knowledge Foundation is acknowledged for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SIK, The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 5401, 402 29, Göteborg, Sweden

    Friederike Ziegler

  2. Swedish Board of Fisheries, Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 4, 453 21, Lysekil, Sweden

    Daniel Valentinsson

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  1. Friederike Ziegler
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  2. Daniel Valentinsson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Friederike Ziegler.

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Responsible Editor: Nils Jungbluth

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Ziegler, F., Valentinsson, D. Environmental life cycle assessment of Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) caught along the Swedish west coast by creels and conventional trawls—LCA methodology with case study. Int J Life Cycle Assess 13, 487–497 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-008-0024-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-008-0024-x

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