In my October 2019 column, I reported that we (19 researchers and policy analysts) published the report “The Ocean as a Solution to Climate Change: Five Opportunities for Action” for the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (HLPSOE). Our publication was endorsed by the panel’s 14 serving heads of state and government members at the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York, on September 23rd, 2019.
In my November 2019 column, I developed one of the opportunities for action that should be of interest to the readers of International Aquafeed and the aquaculture sector: investing in nature-based actions and seaweed farming.
In this column, I will look at the potential mitigation impact of reducing the carbon footprint of ocean-derived food production (wild capture fisheries and aquaculture) and the potential reductions from shifting diets to include more low-carbon sources of ocean-based proteins, if those seafood options can be provided on a sustainable basis.
Reducing emissions from wild capture fisheriesDifferent types of food, harvested and produced in different places by different means, can vary by more than an order of magnitude in the total greenhouse gas (GHGs) they emit across their full life cycle.
It is estimated that global wild capture fisheries account for roughly four percent of global food system production emissions.
Reductions in emissions from wild-capture fisheries can be achieved in ways ranging from technological advances in engine efficiency or hull design to changes in skipper behaviour, such as speed reductions and willingness to fish in poor conditions. However, while technological changes, such as gear design and engine retrofits, have been demonstrated to influence fuel-use rates in individual vessels, the effects of such changes at the fleet level are unclear and can be overshadowed by variation in stock abundances or structural changes to the fisheries.
Read more, HERE.
The Aquaculturists
No comments:
Post a Comment