Aquaculture is a key sector of the Norwegian economy and has experienced substantial growth over recent decades. This expansion has been accompanied by increasing biological and regulatory challenges, particularly environmental pressures and elevated fish mortality linked to salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) management. This study applied Life Cycle Assessment to evaluate the biodiversity impacts of lice treatments per ton live-weight salmon produced in a production zone in mid-Norway (116 locations) from 2015 to 2022, covering chemical, mechanical, and biological control methods. Using treatment-specific inventory and LC-IMPACT methodology, the study quantified the biodiversity impacts by differentiating upstream, application, and mortality-related impacts, thereby evaluating their significance and trade-offs. Findings indicate that the type and frequency of treatments significantly influence environmental impacts. Mechanical treatments were the most frequently applied and contributed the most to annual impacts across all impact categories, particularly due to treatment-induced mortality and upstream resource and energy demand. Mortality indirectly increased impacts by raising the feed and energy demand per unit of salmon produced. Chemical treatments declined over the last years, resulting in a relatively low contribution to the total impacts. Using cleaner fish showed lower impacts than mechanical methods, but still contributed significantly, especially to eutrophication and climate change, due to upstream and application-related impacts. The findings highlight the importance of integrating mortality reduction and delousing applications into policies not only to lower mortality and improve production efficiency, but also to enhance the sustainability of aquaculture

På uppdrag av Livsmedelsföretagen, LI, och Svensk Dagligvaruhandel, SvDH, har RISE tagit fram en branschgemensam metodik för att beräkna klimatavtryck av livsmedels-produkter. Framtagen klimatberäkningsmetodik bygger på den underlagsrapport om metodik och standarder för beräkning av klimatavtryck på livsmedelsprodukter som RISE tog fram i uppdrag av Li och SvDH, våren 2023 (RISE, 2023). Metodiken gäller för klimatberäkning av • Producentspecifikt och produktrepresentativt klimatavtryck av livsmedel – i rapporten kallat Representativt klimatavtryck. • Generiska klimattal av livsmedel – i rapporten kallat Generiskt klimattal.

Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon is a nutritious type of food in increasing demand and although production has stagnated and is faced by various challenges, it is likely to continue to expand in the future. We present results from a detailed greenhouse gas emission assessment of the most important Norwegian farmed salmon export products along with improvement measures. By scaling up both baseline results and reduction opportunities, based on growth projections, we estimate current and future emissions of the sector as a whole. We show that export of gutted salmon to Europe by truck dominates Norwegian salmon exports, not only in volume and value, but also in emissions, followed by export of fresh gutted salmon and fillets to Asia and fillets to the US by air. The cumulative greenhouse gas emissions are dominated by feed production followed by emissions from overseas airfreighting of fresh products. The five most important emission reduction measures, based only on existing technology and without particular order were 1) slightly increased feed efficiency, 2) increased utilization of side streams occurring in secondary processing after export, 3) seafreight to market instead of road and air, 4) higher energy efficiency and cleaner energy sources, and 5) changed feed composition. Collectively, they have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of current production by 60%, from 5.2 to 2.1 million tonnes of CO2e, assuming the same relative importance of each supply chain. This implies that a medium growth-scenario, representing more than a doubling of the volume of salmon farmed to 3.3 million tonnes, would be possible while reducing total sector emissions by 16% if the improvement measures were fully implemented. For larger reductions, either lower growth or more ambitious implementation of improvement measures is needed. Although greenhouse gas emissions are often linked to resource efficiency and wider sustainability, this is not always the case, and it is important to avoid shifting burdens from climate to e.g. eutrophication or biodiversity impacts. However, many environmental impacts of salmon farming are centered around feed efficiency, and even problems with welfare, escapees, and in part eutrophication are reflected in lower feed efficiency resulting in higher greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to the systematic collection of robust data for more continuous monitoring of greenhouse gas emission performance over time, we therefore recommend identifying additional indicators to monitor to ensure the sector develops not only towards climate neutrality but also towards broader sustainability. 

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. 

As seaweed farming gains prominence in future blue economies, scientifically robust environmental evaluations are vital. Harmonizing life cycle assessment (LCA) studies provides nuanced insights, allowing generalizations and potentially more accurate results than individual studies. This study recalculates life cycle inventory (LCI) data to offer a comprehensive perspective on sugar kelp Saccharina latissima. The findings affirm and validate previous studies, emphasizing critical hotspots such as fuel use for boats at sea, impacts from the use of plastic ropes, buoys and metal components at sea, and electrical energy use in the hatchery. The overall environmental impacts of seaweed farming remain relatively low compared to other seafood and biomass sources. The study also highlights the importance of how fuel use is modelled for the outcome. While harmonization enhances certainty and facilitates robust comparisons, challenges arise from the lack of standardized methods for data collection and reporting, along with data gaps between studies. Addressing these limitations calls for standardized protocols and improved data sharing practices in the field. 

Does Swedish consumption of farmed salmon drive increase in industrial fisheries in the Baltic Sea?

Swedish fishing in the Baltic Sea with large vessels to produce fish meal and oil, and the deteriorating conditions for small-scale fishing and herring stocks, has in recent years been heavily debated in media. A link between current large-scale fishing and Swedish consumption of Norwegian salmon is often made, i.e., that Norwegian salmon farming is a driver behind the recent development. The Swedish Fishing Industry Association has therefore commissioned this report with the aim to improve current knowledge. The overarching questions are whether i) there is a dependency, and ii) if Norwegian salmon farming can be considered a driver for Swedish large-scale fishing of herring in the Baltic Sea. It is found that the development from the 1950s needs to be taken into account to fully understand today's situation. The current Swedish fishing fleet in the Baltic Sea is in line with national fisheries’ objectives to make pelagic fishing more efficient, and the development of stocks is in turn governed by the EU Common Fisheries Policy – both independent to both Swedish consumption and Norwegian salmon farming. Several factors affect destination of landings, where an important aspect is quality of the catch. Current fishing pattern, with fewer and larger boats, have resulted in considerably larger landing volumes per vessel – compromising opportunities for processing for direct consumption. The exact link between Swedish fisheries and Norwegian salmon farming is however complicated. The different traceability systems for fish caught for feed versus direct consumption are not integrated, although detailed information "one step forward, one step back" is available from individual actors. This challenge an effective tracing of a certain fish volume caught for fish meal and oil production to the final use. Overall, available data find that the total share of herring (from all waters) in one kilo Norwegian salmon feed is small (3.77%), and a very small fraction is based on fisheries directly destined for fish meal and oil production (0.8%) – the largest share is based on trimmings from processing for direct consumption. However, most of the Swedish landings of herring from the Baltic Sea is directly destined for fishmeal and oil production in Denmark. The largest share of the total production in Denmark goes to aquaculture, mainly to Norway. Conclusions are that i) Norwegian salmon farming does not appear to use herring from the Baltic Sea to a large extent, although a large share of the fish meal and oil production from the Baltic Sea are destined to aquaculture, and ii) it is the fisheries management (EU and Swedish) that has shaped the fishing that exists today by creating the basic conditions. The report concludes with recommendations for follow-up measures to reduce conflict between fishing for feed and direct consumption, and to better ensure full traceability even for fish intended for feed production.

Algae have gained increasing attention as promising food from both an environmental and nutritional perspective. However, current understanding is still limited. This report summarizes the status of knowledge for this emerging sector, focusing on micro- and macroalgae species most relevant for Europe (particularly Sweden). Environmental impacts, with focus on climate, are evaluated through literature reviews and analysis of existing life cycle assessments (LCAs), and nutritional potential in the form of data compilation and calculation of nutrient density scores. Overall, findings reveal that current data is incomplete and of poor representativeness. Most LCAs are not performed on commercial production, but at pilot or experimental scale, why often only indicative drivers for greenhouse gas emissions may be identified. For microalgae, there is a wide diversity of production systems in different conditions across the globe. Based on the data at hand, energy use is a key hotspot across most studies for this production, driven by the requirements of different types of systems and species, and to location. For macroalgae production, despite poor representativeness of especially green and red macroalgae, key aspects for minimizing greenhouse gas emissions are associated with energy consumption and use of materials for farming such as ropes. No LCA exists on wild harvested macroalgae, representing the largest production volume in Europe (>95%); large-scale wild harvest may also be associated with risks to ecosystems unless suitable management is enforced. Significant data gaps also exist in food composition databases regarding nutrient and heavy metal content in algae (e.g., vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids). When available, nutrient content was found to be highly variable within and across species, but overall, the evaluation of nutritional quality indicated that algae may be a considerable source of minerals and vitamin B12. The contribution of fiber and protein is generally minimal in a 5 g dry weight portion of macroalgae; microalgae may have higher protein content, and also fat. However, excessive amounts of iodine and several heavy metals may be represented even in very small amounts of unprocessed macroalgae. In summary, the suggested potential of farmed algae as a sustainable food resource is overall strengthened by its generally low carbon footprint during production compared to other food raw materials. However, more input data are needed to fill data gaps regarding both environmental impacts and nutrient quality, and effects from different processing, as well as improved understanding of nutrient and contaminant bioavailability. Pending further research, careful considerations of risks and benefits associated with algae production and consumption should be applied.

Salmon is a nutritious and popular food among consumers predominantly in wealthy countries around the world. Since the mid-1990s farmed salmon production has exceeded wild salmon harvest, and is now 80 % of total global salmon supply. The environmental impacts of farmed salmon are frequently discussed and consumers are faced with a multitude of choices even after deciding to have salmon for dinner: species, production method, origin, product form. We present life cycle impacts of fresh and frozen salmon products, originating in purse seine fisheries for pink salmon and gill net fisheries for sockeye salmon in Alaska, when sold on markets in Europe and the United States. Norwegian salmon products are then modelled to the same markets in fresh and frozen form, based on literature data. Impact categories included were greenhouse gas emissions, marine eutrophication, marine ecotoxicity and land use. A fish in, fish out ratio is also calculated and differences in content of nutrients and contaminants described. Frozen products from wild sockeye and pink salmon had the lowest emissions in both markets. For consumers in the U.S. and Europe, wild salmon products have 46–86 % and 12–71 % lower greenhouse gas emissions than farmed Norwegian salmon, respectively, depending on species and product form. Farmed salmon also had higher land use, marine ecotoxic and eutrophying emissions and fish in, fish out ratio. Important differences exist in nutritional and contaminant content between the three types of salmon production. Improvement options as well as an optimized supply chain are modelled showing greenhouse gas reduction opportunities of 40–50 % also for the best performing chains. Results can be used as a baseline for improved data collection and emission reductions. Recommendations for consumers, industry and policymakers who can facilitate and even drive development towards more sustainable salmon products are provided. © 2022 The Authors

Aquaculture production set a new record in 2020, with over 120 million tonnes of production, whichcorresponds to about half of the global seafood consumption. However, Swedish aquacultureproduction is currently low, but slowly increasing. The global aquaculture sector is predicted tocontinue to grow but needs to reduce its environmental footprint. In intensive aquaculture in whichfeed is used, feed inputs often account for the largest share of environmental impacts, thus feeddevelopment is a priority to increase the sustainability of fed aquaculture.The purpose of this study is to evaluate the environmental sustainability implications of shiftingto more regional and circular feed inputs for rainbow trout, by, as a first step, estimating thegreenhouse gas emissions – or carbon footprint- of the novel feed and fish raised on it compared toconventional production. Fish were produced in net pens in Sweden and fed either a conventionalfeed (reference), or an experimental feed in which 60% of the protein content derives from novelingredients (insects, blue mussels, sea squirts and fava bean protein isolate) sourced from the Nordiccountries to replace land animal by-products (i.e. blood meal and poultry by product meal) and soyprotein concentrate.Results show that the novel feed reduces greenhouse gas emissions of one kg of rainbow troutby around 63 %. Fish fed the experimental feed maintained the same growth and economic feedconversion ratio (eFCR) as fish fed the control feed. The reduction is mainly due to the almost 70%lower emissions of the experimental feed; 1.6 kg CO2eq./kg feed compared to 5.4 kg CO2eq./kg feedof the conventional feed. Feeding fish insects reared on plant-based waste streams from the foodindustry, increases the circularity and reduces emissions. However, the modelling choice that somefeed inputs based on side streams with no economic value are free of environmental burden, has astrong influence on the results. Despite shorter transport distances no lower impact of transportscould be found for the experimental feed due to the utilisation of more climate intensive transportmeans/modes. Further, the novel feed ingredients used in the study come from pilot or test scaleproduction plants, with potential to further decrease emissions with optimised processing. Atpresent, the available volumes of these feed inputs are limited which prevents a rapid large-scaleshift of the aquaculture industry. Other sources of uncertainty include the fact that the FCR is basedon a four-month growth trial which might not reflect a complete production cycle. This studyindicates that there is a potential to reduce the carbon footprint of intensive aquaculture by usingalternative protein sources, an important step that shows that it is worthwhile to continue expandingthe analysis to cover also other environmental aspects to avoid shifting burdens between differenttypes of environmental impact.

Method for calculation of Swedish seafood consumption

Robust statistics on how much and which seafood is consumed in Sweden are important for calculations of intake of both desired and undesired substances through seafood, as well as for mapping and forecasting the environmental footprint generated by consumption. Based on three previous reviews summarizing production and trade statistics to estimate Swedish seafood consumption per species and production method (fishing/ aquaculture), a method has been developed for calculating seafood consumption. Previous reports have provided valuable insights, since the Swedish Board of Agriculture does no longer publish data on Swedish seafood consumption in the same way as for other foods. Focusing on the most recent review, which represents the current state of knowledge and the latest statistics, the purpose of this report is to describe in detail, step by step, the method used for calculating Swedish seafood consumption. The calculation is based on public statistics on the volume of imports, exports and production in aquaculture and fisheries, which when needed was complemented with information from other sources. The method description includes where data is found, how it is downloaded, processed, categorized and how the different datasets were later combined to provide an overall picture of Swedish seafood consumption. Finally, knowledge gaps and the need for supplementary data collection is described. The work on this report has revealed that there are still considerable deficiencies and data gaps in the public production and trade statistics. For instance, landings by foreign commercial fishing boats as well as landings of certain species in recreational fishing are not presented. Production data of certain species in aquaculture may also be lacking, due to confidentiality, and requires alternative strategies to be obtained. In addition, available statistics on herring and sprat are uncertain and difficult to interpret, which is why the calculation of these species requires special treatment. Due to its great importance in both production and consumption, the uncertainties surrounding these species represent an important source of error in the estimation of total consumption. Improvements in production and trade statistics of seafood are important for several reasons and it is important that a future method for public consumption statistics is harmonized with that used for other foods, to enable comparisons. Using alternative and varied ways to fill data gaps from year to year obstructs reliable calculations and comparisons – over time and with other product groups. To ensure a sustainable increase in seafood production and consumption, improved transparency through the whole value chain is of considerable importance – not the least to understand which seafood species that could increase in a sustainable way.