Environmental life cycle assessments of fish food products with emphasis on the fish catch process

Sustainable development embraces economics, society and nature and is the global context for this PhD-thesis. Modern fishery is dependent on fossil fuels, which use is the antithesis of sustainable fishery. Environmental degradation is closely related to health aspects, which are increasingly important to consumers and other stakeholders. For the fish food product (FFP), the main focus of prior research has been on threatened stock populations. Less attention has been focused on environmental problems related to the use of energy and material, not only by the fishing vessel, but for the whole life cycle of the FFP. This PhDproject is a contribution to closing this gap. The overall goal of the research behind this thesis is to demonstrate a methodology for systematic environmental life cycle assessments (LCA) of FFP with an emphasis on fishery. LCA has been developed for commodity products and this work contributes to expanding the application to food products. LCA is the basis for creating an environmental product declaration (EPD) by following the product category rules (PCR). Systems engineering principles and processes provide the tools to systematize the analysis of the life cycle of the FFP, by modelling the fish food production systems. Systems engineering with input from LCA, stakeholder analysis and eco-labelling is used to develop a methodology presented as a framework for environmental analysis of the FFP. Three studies are combined into a single case study resulting in an LCA of fish products that has been used to develop an EPD for Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) based on the PCR developed for wild caught fish. Environmental performance indicators relevant for FFP have been explored and a number of parameters are recommended for use in communicating the environmental impact of a FFP. Greatest attention has been on the fishing vessels because their energy consumption accounts for the largest environmental impacts of the FFP. The research results contribute to better transparency about the environmental impact of the life cycle of FFP and thereby support more sustainable decision-making in the fishery sector. In the future, the framework developed for environmental life cycle assessment of FFPs, could be expanded to other food products and so be used to compare different food products against each other