Is renewing Icelandic demersal trawling vessels resulting in lower greenhouse gas emissions?Show others and affiliations
2024 (English)In: Journal of Cleaner Production, ISSN 0959-6526, E-ISSN 1879-1786, Vol. 484, article id 144245Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Understanding and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of bottom trawl fisheries is of importance, as it directly impacts efforts to mitigate climate change and promotes sustainable fishing practices. As a considerable part of global landings is fished using demersal trawls and vessel renewal is often mentioned as an important mitigation measure. This study compares the greenhouse gas emissions of older and newer trawlers in the Icelandic fleet, using Life Cycle Assessment methodology with the functional unit “1 kg of demersally trawled fish at landing”. The global warming potential (kg CO2-eq) from older Icelandic bottom trawlers was assessed and compared to the newer ones, where older vessels were in some cases being decommissioned. A total of 11 trawlers were assessed, providing a cross section of the Icelandic bottom trawler fleet, with respect to age, size, catch composition and onboard operations. The results show that freezer trawling was more energy-intensive compared to trawlers landing their catches chilled/superchilled. Fleet renewal alone does not explain the reduction in fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions in the Icelandic bottom trawl fleet between 2012 and 2022, highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach considering multiple factors such as catch composition, fishing ground, and vessel characteristics, which explained 87% of the emissions. Catching indicated increased fuel consumption compared to steaming. The greenhouse gas emissions allocated to each demersal fish species ranged on average from 0.5 to 1.0 kg CO2-eq/kg of the weight of demersal fish landed, and from 1.4 to 2.7 kg CO2-eq/kg of the edible part of demersal fish landed (mass allocation), where redfish stood out as having the highest emissions.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier Ltd , 2024. Vol. 484, article id 144245
Keywords [en]
Fish; Fishing vessels; Fleet operations; Low emission; Bottom trawling; Bottom trawls; Demersal fish; Edible part of demersal fish species; Fish species; Greenhouse gas emissions; Icelandics; Mitigation measures; Optimized trawler design; Trawl fisheries; Greenhouse gas emissions
National Category
Fish and Aquacultural Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-76307DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.144245Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85210283759OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-76307DiVA, id: diva2:1924046
Note
This article was a collaboration between the University of Iceland, department of Food science, and Mat\u00EDs ohf. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from The Icelandic Food Innovation Fund (grant no. 202200163), and the Research fund of the University of Iceland (grant no. 92349), for funding the study.
2025-01-022025-01-022025-01-02Bibliographically approved