Funded by the FRDC, this project is the first overview of energy use and carbon emissions in the Australian aquaculture sectors, benchmarked against wild catch fisheries. Previously, some work had been done on energy consumption and efficiency improvements, but the carbon footprint, or ‘fin’print, of Australian produced seafood had never been calculated. Measuring the carbon footprint of the aquaculture sectors was a complicated task requiring an account of all the emissions generated directly and indirectly by the sectors. This includes fuel burnt directly to power vessels, to purchased electricity, refrigeration emissions and the emissions from products bought from external suppliers such as aquaculture feed. When aquaculture operators understand how their businesses create emissions, they can make appropriate changes to reduce both emissions and energy costs.
The study assessed the energy use and carbon emissions of Australia’s largest aquaculture & fisheries industries, constituting about 82% of Australia’s domestic seafood production by gross value of production (GVP). Whilst comparisons of relative footprints within aquaculture are useful, it is potentially more useful to compare footprints more broadly across a range of seafood products. Seafood consumers are increasingly wanting to know the stories behind the products they’re buying, including efforts by fishers and farmers to reduce their carbon footprint. Carbon information for produced seafood is vital for providing a competitive advantage when it comes to consumer preferences for low-emission proteins. It also highlights how seafood production may need to adapt to remain competitive and sustainable.
Results from the study are shown in Table 1, with GHG emissions calculations for aquaculture averaging 9.7kg CO2-e /kg of seafood produced, and wildcatch 4.4kg CO2-e /kg of seafood produced. As an output of the project, a ‘toolbox’ of resources is available including a new self-assessment tool helping smaller operators convert their costs into a carbon number, track their operations, and compare themselves within, or to other, sector(s).