Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions of world fisheries

Nature Climate Change volume 8, pages 333–337 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Food production is responsible for a quarter of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. Marine fisheries are typically excluded from global assessments of GHGs or are generalized based on a limited number of case studies. Here we quantify fuel inputs and GHG emissions for the global fishing fleet from 1990–2011 and compare emissions from fisheries to those from agriculture and livestock production. We estimate that fisheries consumed 40 billion litres of fuel in 2011 and generated a total of 179 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent GHGs (4% of global food production). Emissions from the global fishing industry grew by 28% between 1990 and 2011, with little coinciding increase in production (average emissions per tonne landed grew by 21%). Growth in emissions was driven primarily by increased harvests from fuel-intensive crustacean fisheries. The environmental benefit of low-carbon fisheries could be further realized if a greater proportion of landings were directed to human consumption rather than industrial uses.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Production and GHG emissions by fisheries for each country.
Fig. 2: Global marine fishery landings and GHG emissions for 1990–2011 categorized by species groups.
Fig. 3: Carbon footprint of fishery-derived products for human consumption in 2011 compared to other sources of animal protein.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Smith, P. et al. in Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change (eds Edenhofer, O. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 2014).

  2. Steinfeld, H. et al. Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options (FAO, Rome, Italy, 2006).

  3. Webb, R. & Buratini, J. Global challenges for the 21st century: the role and strategy of the agri-food sector. Anim. Reprod. 13, 133–142 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Garnett, T. Livestock-related greenhouse gas emissions: impacts and options for policy makers. Environ. Sci. Policy 12, 491–503 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Pelletier, N. & Tyedmers, P. Forecasting potential global environmental costs of livestock production 2000–2050. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 18371–18374 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Herrero, M. et al. Greenhouse gas mitigation potentials in the livestock sector. Nat. Clim. Change 6, 452–461 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Fiala, N. Meeting the demand: an estimation of potential future greenhouse gas emissions from meat production. Ecol. Econ. 67, 412–419 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Popp, A. Food consumption, diet shifts and associated non-CO2 greenhouse gases from agricultural production. Glob. Environ. Change 20, 451–462 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Tilman, D. & Clark, M. Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health. Nature 515, 518–522 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Carlsson-Kanyama, A. Climate change and dietary choices — how can emissions of greenhouse gases from food consumption be reduced? Food Policy 23, 277–293 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Nilsson, K. & Sonesson, U. Changing Diets – What is the Influence on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions of Different Consumption Patterns? (LCA Food, 2010); http://eventi.ict.uniba.it/lcafood2010/presentations/thursday-23/parallel-3b/Nilsson.pdf

  12. UNFCCC. Adoption of the Paris Agreement Report No. FCCC/Co/2015/L9/Rev.1 (UNFCCC, 2015).

  13. Rogelj, J. et al. Paris Agreement climate proposals need a boost to keep warming well below 2°C. Nature 534, 632–639 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Pelletier, N. et al Energy intensity of agriculture and food systems. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 36, 223–246 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Nijdam, D., Rood, T. & Westhoek, H. The price of protein: review of land use and carbon footprints from life cycle assessments of animal food products and their substitutes. Food Policy 37, 760–770 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Foley, J. A. et al. Solutions for a cultivated planet. Nature 478, 337–342 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. FAOSTAT Emissions Database (FAO, 2013); http://faostat.fao.org/

  18. González, D. et al. Protein efficiency per unit energy and per unit greenhouse gas emissions: potential contribution of diet choices to climate change mitigation. Food Policy 36, 562–570 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Parker, R. & Tyedmers, P. Fuel consumption of global fishing fleets: current understanding and knowledge gaps. Fish Fish. 16, 684–696 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Tyedmers, P. in Encyclopedia of Energy Vol. 1 (ed. Cleveland, C.) 683–693 (Elsevier, New York, USA, 2004).

  21. Tyedmers, P., Watson, R. & Pauly, D. Fueling global fishing fleets. Ambio 34, 635–638 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Cheung, W., Watson, R. & Pauly, D. Signature of ocean warming in global fisheries catch. Nature 497, 365–369 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Abernethy, K. E., Trebilcock, P., Kebede, B., Allison, E. H. & Dulvy, N. K. Fuelling the decline in UK fishing communities? ICES J. Mar. Sci. 67, 1076–1085 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Pelletier, N. et al. Energy prices and seafood security. Glob. Environ. Change 24, 30–41 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Fulton, S. Fish and Fuel: Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions associated with Icelandic cod, Alaskan pollock, and Alaskan Pink Salmon Fillets delivered to the United Kingdom. MES thesis, Dalhousie Univ. (2010).

  26. FAO. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2012 (FAO, 2013).

  27. Deutsch, L. et al. Feeding aquaculture growth through globalization: exploitation of marine ecosystems for fishmeal. Glob. Environ. Change 17, 238–249 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Watson, R. A. et al. Marine foods sourced from farther as their use of global ocean primary production increases. Nat. Commun. 6, 7365 (2015).

  29. Fish Meal Production by Country in 1000 MT (USDA, 2014); http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?commodity=fish-meal

  30. Tacon, A. G. J. & Metian, M. Global overview on the use of fish meal and fish oil in industrially compounded aquafeeds: trends and future prospects. Aquaculture 285, 146–158 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. FAO Yearbook. Fishery and Aquaculture Statistics 2012 (FAO, 2014); ftp://ftp.fao.org/FI/CDrom/CD_yearbook_2012/index.htm

  32. Boopendranath, M. R. & Hameed, M. S. Gross energy requirement in fishing operations. Fish. Technol. 50, 27–35 (2013).

    Google Scholar 

  33. Lam, V. W. Y., Sumaila, U. R., Dyck, A., Pauly, D. & Watson, R. Construction and first applications of a global cost of fishing database. ICES J. Mar. Sci. 68, 1996–2004 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Cheilari, A., Guillen, J., Damalas, D. & Barbas, T. Effects of the fuel price crisis on the energy efficiency and the economic performance of the European Union fishing fleets. Mar. Policy 40, 18–24 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Guillen, J., Cheilari, A., Damalas, D. & Barbas, T. Oil for fish: an energy return on investment analysis of selected European Union fishing fleets. J. Ind. Ecol. 20, 145–153 (2016).

  36. Tyedmers, P. in Fisheries Impacts on North Atlantic Ecosystems: Catch, Effort, and National/Regional Datasets. Fisheries Centre Research Reports 9 (eds Zeller, D. et al.) 12–34 (Univ. British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 2001).

  37. Parker, R., Hartmann, K., Green, B., Gardner, C. & Watson, R. Environmental and economic dimensions of fuel use in Australian fisheries. J. Clean. Prod. 87, 78–86 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Parker, R. Implications of high animal by-product feed inputs in life cycle assessments of farmed Atlantic salmon. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-017-1340-9 (2017).

  39. Ziegler, F. & Hornborg, S. Stock size matters more than vessel size: the fuel efficiency of Swedish demersal trawl fisheries 2002–2010. Mar. Policy 44, 72–81 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Thrane, M. Energy consumption in the Danish fishery: identification of key factors. J. Ind. Ecol. 8, 223–239 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Ruttan, L. M. & Tyedmers, P. H. Skippers, spotters and seiners: analysis of the “skipper effect” in US menhaden (Brevoortia spp.) purse-seine fisheries. Fish. Res. 83, 73–80 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Vázquez-Rowe, I. & Tyedmers, P. Identifying the importance of the “skipper effect” within sources of measured inefficiency in fisheries through data envelopment analysis (DEA). Mar. Policy 38, 387–396 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Pascoe, S., Coglan, L., Punt, A. E. & Dichmont, C. M. Impacts of vessel capacity reduction programmes on efficiency in fisheries: the case of Australia’s multispecies northern prawn fishery. J. Agric. Econ. 63, 425–443 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Hua, J. & Wu, Y. H. Implications of energy use for fishing fleet—Taiwan example. Energy Policy 39, 2656–2668 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Green Growth and Energy Use in Fisheries and Aquaculture (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2012).

  46. Driscoll, J. & Tyedmers, P. Fuel use and greenhouse gas emission implications of fisheries management: the case of the New England Atlantic herring fishery. Mar. Policy 34, 353–359 (2010).

  47. Swartz, W., Sumaila, U. R., Watson, R. & Pauly, D. Sourcing seafood for the three major markets: the EU, Japan and the USA. Mar. Policy 34, 1366–1373 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Watson R. A., Nichols, R., Lam, V. W. Y. & Sumaila, U. R. Global seafood trade flows and developing economies: insights from linking trade and production. Mar. Policy 82, 41–49 (2017).

  49. Ziegler, F. et al. The carbon footprint of Norwegian seafood products on the global seafood market. J. Ind. Ecol. 17, 103–116 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Watson, R. A. et al. Mapping global fisheries: sharpening our focus. Fish Fish. 5, 168–177 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Watson, R. A. A database of global marine commercial, small-scale, illegal and unreported fisheries catch 1950–2014. Sci. Data 4, 170039 (2017).

  52. Corbett, J. & Winebrake, J. Emissions tradeoffs among alternative marine fuels: total fuel cycle analysis of residual oil, marine gas oil, and marine diesel oil. J. Air Waste Manag. Assoc. 58, 538–542 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. Weidema, B. P. et al. The Ecoinvent Database: Overview and Methodology, Data Quality Guideline for the Ecoinvent Database Version 3 (Ecoinvent, 2013); http://www.ecoinvent.org

  54. Avadí, A. & Fréon, P. Life cycle assessment of fisheries: a review for fisheries scientists and managers. Fish. Res. 143, 21–38 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Parker, R. Review of Life Cycle Assessment Research on Products derived from Fisheries and Aquaculture (Sea Fish Industry Authority, Edinburgh, UK, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  56. Vázquez-Rowe, I., Hospido, A., Moreira, M. T. & Feijoo, G. Best practices in life cycle assessment implementation in fisheries. Improving and broadening environmental assessment for seafood production systems. Trends Food Sci. Tech. 28, 116–131 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Vázquez-Rowe, I., Moreira, M. T. & Feijoo, G. Life cycle assessment of horse mackerel fisheries in Galicia (NW Spain): comparative analysis of two major fishing methods. Fish. Res. 106, 517–527 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Vivekanandan, E., Singh, V. V. & Kizhakudan, J. K. Carbon footprint by marine fishing boats of India. Curr. Sci. 105, 361–366 (2013).

    Google Scholar 

  59. Port, D., Alvarez Perez, J. A. & Thadeu de Menezes, J. Energy direct inputs and greenhouse gas emissions of the main industrial trawl fishery of Brazil. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 107, 251–260 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. Driscoll, J., Boyd, C. & Tyedmers, P. Life cycle assessment of the Maine and southwest Nova Scotia lobster industries. Fish. Res. 172, 385–400 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Research funding was provided by the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre (Project 100596). R.W.R.P. acknowledges support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (PDF-487958-2016). R.A.W. acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council (Discovery project DP140101377).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Robert W. R. Parker, Julia L. Blanchard, Caleb Gardner, Bridget S. Green, Klaas Hartmann & Reg A. Watson

  2. Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Robert W. R. Parker

  3. Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Julia L. Blanchard & Reg A. Watson

  4. School for Resource and Environmental Studies, and College of Sustainability, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Peter H. Tyedmers

Authors
  1. Robert W. R. Parker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julia L. Blanchard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Caleb Gardner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bridget S. Green
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Klaas Hartmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Peter H. Tyedmers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Reg A. Watson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

R.W.R.P. co-manages FEUD, conducted analyses and wrote the manuscript. J.L.B., C.G. and B.S.G. assisted with projected development and manuscript preparation. K.H. assisted with data analysis and manuscript preparation. P.H.T. developed and co-manages FEUD and assisted with manuscript preparation. R.A.W. provided global fishery landing data and assisted with data analysis and manuscript preparation.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert W. R. Parker.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Parker, R.W.R., Blanchard, J.L., Gardner, C. et al. Fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions of world fisheries. Nature Clim Change 8, 333–337 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0117-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0117-x

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing