REFERENCES AND RESOURCES: SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD

• “The highest nutrient benefit at the lowest emissions is achieved by consuming wild-caught small pelagic and salmonid species, and farmed bivalves like mussels and oysters. Many but not all seafood species provide more nutrition at lower emissions than land animal proteins, especially red meat  but large differences exist, even within species groups and species, depending on production method.”
  
• Here, we build on the work of Hallström et al.26 and analyse GHG emissions associated with production of globally important seafood species relative to their respective nutrient densities.
• The global average performance of all seafood assessed, weighted by species production volume (the two lines in Fig. 1), has a higher nutrient density than beef, pork and chicken and lower GHG emissions than beef and pork.
• Amongst the seafood groups defined, wild-caught salmonids (pink and sockeye salmon) and the small pelagic species (e.g. herrings, mackerels, and anchovies) and farmed bivalves have the lowest GHG emissions per nutrient density ratio
• Crustaceans, both farmed (primarily tropical shrimp species), and wild-caught (various shrimp species, American lobster, etc) and cephalopods all result in higher than average emissions while providing lower than average nutritional scores.
• Any future applications of the approach to specific populations should attempt to account for the dietary needs locally or of specific population sub-groups (defined by age, gender or socioeconomic parameters), as well as local availability of seafood products and their source.

• Better Choices for Blue Foods: Highlights from the U.N. Ocean Conference
• Managing aquaculture for human and planetary health | Stanford Global Health

• This article covers the main factors of marine aquaculture and shares sustainable alternatives to waste reduction and exploitation of chemicals
• “Intensive fish farming represents the highest environmental risk when compared to other aquaculture sectors due to the feeding needs and the chemicals used associated with the production process.”

• From providing nursery habitats and foraging grounds for a wide range of marine organisms, to critically contributing to a sense of identity for Indigenous and coastal peoples that have used it for generations as medicine, food and material, kelp is of vital importance to the planet and to people.
• Kelp abundance is declining globally by 1.8% annually. Its main threats include ocean warming, grazing, excess nutrients due to land run-off, also known as eutrophication, pollution, sedimentation, overharvesting and the introduction of invasive species and diseases.

• “The highest nutrient benefit at the lowest emissions is achieved by consuming wild-caught small pelagic and salmonid species, and farmed bivalves like mussels and oysters. Many but not all seafood species provide more nutrition at lower emissions than land animal proteins, especially red meat”

•  The article, “Increase of methane emission linked to net cage fish farms in a tropical reservoir. Environmental Challenges” discusses the relationship between CH4 emissions and net cage site locations. Results showed fish meal rich in carbon and phosphorus settled in the water and sediment around the net cages driving a significant increase in diffuse and ebullitive methane emissions.

• Waste from aquaculture systems is classified as 1) solid wastes from uneaten feed and fecal droppings or as 2) dissolved waste products for food metabolism in fish or decomposed uneaten feed. Both solid wastes and dissolved wasted have harmful effects: solid wastes can cause stress, disease, and death; dissolved wastes produce nitrogen and phosphorus which are environmentally impactful water pollutants.

Farmed Seafood – WWF: an resource noting the negative impacts farmed seafood has on the land resources and diverse species we deem to protect.

• Global Principles of Restorative Aquaculture

•  Sustainable Seafood
• “Our aim is to pull back the curtain on the impacts of industrial food production practices and explain the benefits of more sustainable approaches to food production and consumption. We also want to help people raise their collective voices and take action to make real change in the food system.”

• “Furthermore, blue foods provide the highest nutrient richness across multiple micronutrients (for example, iron and zinc), vitamins (for example, B12), and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (for example, EPA and DHA) relative to terrestrial animal-source foods10, which may provide greater incentive to shift demand as consumers generally prioritize seafood freshness, food safety, health and taste over sustainability.”

Jones AR, Alleway HK, et al. Climate-Friendly Seafood: The Potential for Emissions Reduction and Carbon Capture in Marine Aquaculture. BioScience. 2022; 72, 2, 123–143. 

• This article proposes maricultured (marine aquaculture) products as a climate-friendly, high protein food source with a lower greenhouse gas emission footprint than farmed land animals.

•  Addresses the negative impacts of land-based pollutants such as toxic metals, pesticides, fertilizers, pharmaceutical chemicals, agricultural runoff, and sewage on marine ecosystems and human health.

•  What is sustainable seafood?

• The article ”End Overfishing and Increase the Resilience of the Ocean to Climate Change” discusses the relationship between overfishing and climate change and how ending overfishing can increase fish resilience to climate change. Overfishing leads to the loss of biodiversity and endangers the livelihood and health of the remaining fish population, decreasing their ability to withstand stressors such as climate change. Overfishing implies “catching targeted species beyond sustainable levels.” This puts at risk not only the life of the marine ecosystem but our own food security, coastal livelihood, and economics

•  Seafood makes critical contributions to food and nutrition security, particularly in low income countries, and is often a more sustainable and nutrient rich source of animal sourced-food than terrestrial meat production. 
• Seafood…should be recognized as a highly diverse set of foods, with variable environmental impacts, edible yield rates and nutritional profiles.