Session: Fisheries

All salmon are not created equal: the life cycle environmental impacts of salmon fisheries and culture in the NE Pacific
Peter Tyedmers,^*   School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University
Nicole Arsenault,   School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University
Nathan Ayer,   School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University
Anna Flysjo,   SIK, the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology
Sarah Kruse,   Ecotrust
Nathan Pelletier,   School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University
Astrid Scholz,   Ecotrust
Ulf Sonesson,   SIK, the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology

Salmon are one of the most widely consumed seafood products globally. Although most current environmental concern regarding salmon production activities focus on largely proximate biological impacts – stock declines, by-catch, habitat damage, disease and potential genetic impacts, this focus overlooks the diverse environmental impacts that flow from the interlinked series of industrial activities that characterize most modern salmon fishing and farming systems. This presentation describes the results of an international life cycle assessment project to evaluate the impacts associated with major salmon fishing and farming activities of the NE Pacific. This includes those associated with Alaskan troll, purse seine and gillnet fisheries along with both conventional net-pen and experimental land-based culture systems based in British Columbia. Key findings include: impacts vary by an order of magnitude between fishing gears; although impacts associated with feed provision dominate within farming systems, the adoption of land-based culture technologies to address local ecological effects can markedly exacerbate global impacts; and differences in the location of primary production results in substantial impacts as a result of both the mix of primary energy availability and waste utilization. Opportunities for improving the environmental performance of both capture and culture systems will also be discussed.

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