Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Environmental assessment of the Peruvian industrial hake fishery with LCA

  • CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICE IN LCAS OF SEAFOOD AND OTHER AQUATIC PRODUCTS
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The Peruvian hake (Merluccius gayi peruanus) stock has been in a delicate state in the last decades due to overexploitation combined with adverse climatic events. The stock is showing certain signs of recovery since 2012. This work analyses the environmental impacts of current fleet operations and its likely trend.

Methods

The fleet was divided into coherent segments, per holding capacity and engine power. The validity of both segmentations, as well as the presence of an effect of economies of scale driving fuel use intensity (FUI), was tested. Life cycle assessment was used to calculate environmental impacts, per individual sampled vessel and per segment, complemented with indicators of energy efficiency and biotic resource depletion.

Results and discussion

The fleet is highly fuel-efficient (120 kg fuel per tonne fish) when compared with other reported values, despite a large overcapacity that increases the impact of the construction and maintenance phases. Significant inter-annual FUI variations were observed (80.0 kg t−1 in 2008 to 210.3 kg t−1 in 2006), but no clear trend. Neither significant differences in FUI among fleet segments nor a clear effect of economies of scale were found (but FUI analysis was based on a small sample of 32 values for nine vessels, two of which had data for a single year). Only the largest vessels, featuring 242 m3 holding capacity and 850 hp engine power, were found to have lower FUI than any of the other vessels, but no statistical test could be applied to validate this difference. Differences in environmental impacts of individual vessels are mostly dominated by their relative FUI. Fuel use and, to a lower extent, maintenance are the main sources of environmental impacts. The most contributing impacts to ReCiPe single score are climate change, human toxicity and fossil depletion. The fishery’s impacts on the biotic natural resource were orders of magnitude higher than many other global hake stocks, due to overexploitation.

Conclusions

The environmental impacts of the national hake fleet are relatively low during the study period, despite an overcapacity of the fleet. With the perspective of expanding its operations and obtaining better yields on the eventuality that the stock fully recovers, these impacts should decrease. More research based on additional FUI data is necessary to effectively compare the performance of these vessels with larger ones (featuring >180 m3 and >500 hp, of which nine existed in 2016) before possibly recommending their preferential use.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The Peruvian hake fishery takes place at four strata: I (36.6–91.5 m), II (91.5–183 m), III (183–366 m) and IV (>366 m). Only the first three are relevant for this fishery, while stratum IV is rarely exploited because of a combination of factors: irregular surfaces (non-draggable bottoms), technical limitations, increased fuel consumption and lower stock concentration.

  2. Above a certain threshold of infestation, aggravated by poor refrigeration conditions and time elapsed before freezing, the protozoan Kudoa peruvianus generates muscle histolysis (liquefaction or “milkiness”) in hake captures.

  3. CPUE is the ratio of catches (C) to the corresponding standardised effort (E; e.g. trawling hours of a standard vessel or numbers of fishing days) deployed to get C. It is a conventional index of abundance in fishery research, but it depends not only on biomass (B) but also on “catchability”: CPUE = C/E = qB, where q is the catchability coefficient.

References

  • Avadí A (2014) Durabilité de la filière d’anchois du Pérou, de la mer aux rayonnages (Sustainability of the Peruvian anchoveta supply chains from sea to shelf: towards a new strategy for optimal resource use). Université Montpellier 2, Doctoral School SIBAGHE

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avadí A, Fréon P (2014) A set of sustainability performance indicators for seafood: direct human consumption products from Peruvian anchoveta fisheries and freshwater aquaculture. Ecol Indic 48:518–532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avadí A, Vázquez-Rowe I, Fréon P (2014) Eco-efficiency assessment of the Peruvian anchoveta steel and wooden fleets using the LCA+DEA framework. J Clean Prod 70:118–131

  • Avadí A, Bolaños C, Sandoval I, Ycaza C (2015) Life cycle assessment of Ecuadorian processed tuna. Int J Life Cycle Assess 20:1415–1428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cashion T, Hornborg S, Ziegler F et al (2016) Review and advancement of the marine biotic resource use metric in seafood LCAs: a case study of Norwegian salmon feed. Int J Life Cycle Assess 21:1106–1120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CeDePesca (2010) Merluza peruana (Merluccius gayi peruanus): Ficha Técnica de la Pesquería (Peruvian hake (Merluccius gayi peruanus): Technical sheet of the fishery). Mar del Plata: Centro Desarrollo y Pesca Sustentable

  • CeDePesca (2015) Informe sobre el estado actual de la población de la merluza peruana (Merluccius gayi peruanus) y proyección de la captura biológicamente aceptable en el año 2015 (Report on the current state of the Pacific hake stock and estimation of biologically accept. Centro Desarrollo y Pesca Sustentable Filial Perú

  • Chavez FP, Bertrand A, Guevara-Carrasco R et al (2008) The Northern Humboldt Current System: brief history, present status and a view towards the future. Prog Oceanogr 79:95–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daw T, Adger WN, Brown K (2009) Climate change and capture fisheries: potential impacts, adaptation and mitigation. In: Cochrane K, Young C De, Soto D, Bahri T (eds) Climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture: overview of current scientific knowledge. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper. No. 530, pp 107–150

  • Durán LE, Oliva M (1980) Estudio parasitologico en Merluccius gayi peruanus Gingsburg 1954 (Parasitological study of Merluccius gayi peruanus). Bol Chil Parasitol 35:18–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Emanuelsson A, Ziegler F, Pihl L et al (2014) Accounting for overfishing in life cycle assessment: new impact categories for biotic resource use. Int J Life Cycle Assess 19:1156–1168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2003) Food energy—methods of analysis and conversion. Fao Food Nutr Pap 77 Rep a Tech Work Rome, 3–6 December 2002 93. doi: ISSN 0254–4725

  • Fréon P, Avadí A, Marin Soto W, Negrón R (2014a) Environmentally extended comparison table of large- versus small- and medium-scale fisheries: the case of the Peruvian anchoveta fleet. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 71:1459–1474

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fréon P, Avadí A, Vinatea RA, Iriarte F (2014b) Life cycle assessment of the Peruvian industrial anchoveta fleet: boundary setting in life cycle inventory analyses of complex and plural means of production. Int J Life Cycle Assess 19:1068–1086

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Froese R, Pauly D (Eds.) (2014) FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org

  • Goedkoop M, Heijungs R, Huijbregts M et al. (2009) ReCiPe 2008 A life cycle impact assessment method which comprises harmonised category indicators at the midpoint and the endpoint level. First edition Report I: Characterisation

  • Harley S, Myers R, Dunn A (2001) Is catch-per-unit-effort proportional to abundance? Can J Fish Aquat Sci 58:1760–1772

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauschild MZ, Goedkoop M, Guinée J et al (2013) Identifying best existing practice for characterization modeling in life cycle impact assessment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18:683–697

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hélias A, Langlois J, Fréon P (2014) Improvement of the characterization factor for biotic-resource depletion of fisheries. In: 9th International Conference LCA of Food San Francisco, USA 8–10 October 2014 Improvement, pp 4–9

  • Hischier R, Weidema BP, Althaus H-J et al. (2009) Implementation of life cycle impact assessment methods—ecoinvent report No. 3 (v2.1). Dübendorf: Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories

  • Hutchings JA (2000) Collapse and recovery of marine fishe. Nature 406:882–885

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • ICES (2015) ICES stock assessment database. In: Int. Counc. Explor. Sea (ICES), Copenhagen

  • Icochea Salas LA (2013) Crucero de Evaluación de la Merluza con Embarcaciones Industriales replicando el Cr13-0506 realizado por IMARPE a bordo del BIC Humboldt. Informe Final (Hake assessment cruise with industrial vessels replicating campaign Cr13–0506 made by IMARPE onboard t. Lima: Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina

  • IMARPE (2008) La pesquería de merluza en el mar peruano: Régimen Provisional de Pesca 2007 (The hake fisheries in the Peruvian sea: Provisional fisheries regime 2007). Lima: Instituto del Mar del Perú

  • IMARPE (2009) Informe del Tercer Panel Internacional de Expertos de Evaluación de la merluza peruana Merluccius gayi peruanus Ginsburg. Manejo Precautorio de la Merluza Peruana. Callao 24–28 de marzo 2008

  • ISO (2006a) ISO 14040 Environmental management—life cycle assessment—principles and framework. The International Standards Organisation

  • ISO (2006b) ISO 14044 Environmental management—life cycle assessment—requirements and guidelines. The International Standards Organisation

  • Jones AC, Mead A, Kaiser MJ et al (2014) Prioritization of knowledge needs for sustainable aquaculture: a national and global perspective. Fish Fish n/a-n/a. doi:10.1111/faf.12086

  • Langlois J, Fréon P, Delgenes JP et al (2014) New methods for impact assessment of biotic-resource depletion in life cycle assessment of fisheries: theory and application. J Clean Prod 73:63–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montecino V, Lange CB (2009) The Humboldt Current System: ecosystem components and processes, fisheries, and sediment studies. Prog Oceanogr 83:65–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nijdam D, Rood T, Westhoek H (2012) 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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paredes CE (2012) Eficiencia y equidad en la pesca peruana: La reforma y los derechos de pesca (Efficiency and equity in Peruvian fisheries: Reform and fishing rights). Lima: Instituto del Perú

  • Pauly D, Christensen V (1995) Primary production required to sustain global fisheries. Nature 374:255–257

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pauly D, Christensen V, Guénette S et al (2002) Towards sustainability in world fisheries. Nature 418:689–695

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pelletier N, Audsley E, Brodt S et al (2011) Energy intensity of agriculture and food systems. Annu Rev Environ Resour 36:223–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • PRé (2012) SimaPro by Pré Consultants

  • Reap J, Roman F, Duncan S, Bras B (2008) A survey of unresolved problems in life cycle assessment. Part 2: impact assessment and interpretation. Int J Life Cycle Assess 13:374–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ricard D, Minto C, Jensen OP, Baum JK (2012) Examining the knowledge base and status of commercially exploited marine species with the RAM Legacy Stock Assessment Database. Fish Fish 13:380–398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabaté J, Sranacharoenpong K, Harwatt H et al (2015) The environmental cost of protein food choices. Public Health Nutr 18:2067–2073

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salas EM (1972) Investigación parasitológica de la merluza (Merlucius gayii peruanus). Callao: Instituto del Mar del Perú

  • Shin Y, Shannon LJ, Bundy A et al (2010) Using indicators for evaluating, comparing, and communicating the ecological status of exploited marine ecosystems. 2. Setting the scene. ICES J Mar Sci J du Cons 67:692–716

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taelman SE, De Meester S, Schaubroeck T et al (2014) Accounting for the occupation of the marine environment as a natural resource in life cycle assessment: an exergy based approach. Resour Conserv Recycl 91:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tam J, Taylor MH, Blaskovic V et al (2008) Trophic modeling of the Northern Humboldt Current Ecosystem, part I: comparing trophic linkages under La Niña and El Niño conditions. Prog Oceanogr 79:352–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorlindsson T (1988) The skipper effect in the Icelandic herring fishery. Hum Organ 47:199–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tyedmers PH (2000) Salmon and sustainability: the biophysical cost of producing salmon through the commercial salmon fishery and the intensive salmon culture industry. The University of British Columbia

  • Tyedmers P (2004) Fisheries and energy use. Encycl. Energy 1:784

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyedmers PH, Watson R, Pauly D (2005) Fueling global fishing fleets. Ambio 34:635–638

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Utne IB (2009) Life cycle cost (LCC) as a tool for improving sustainability in the Norwegian fishing fleet. J Clean Prod 17:335–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vázquez-Rowe I, Moreira MT, Feijoo G (2011) Life cycle assessment of fresh hake fillets captured by the Galician fleet in the northern stock. Fish Res 110:128–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vázquez-Rowe I, Villanueva-Rey P, Mallo J et al (2013) Carbon footprint of a multi-ingredient seafood product from a business-to-business perspective. J Clean Prod 44:200–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vázquez-Rowe I, Villanueva-Rey P, Moreira MT, Feijoo G (2014a) Edible protein energy return on investment ratio (ep-EROI) for Spanish seafood products. Ambio 43:381–394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vázquez-Rowe I, Villanueva-Rey P, Moreira MT, Feijoo G (2014b) A review of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from worldwide hake fishing. In: Muthu SS (ed) Assessment of Carbon Footprint in Different Industrial Sectors, Volume 2. Springer, Hong Kong, pp 1–30

    Google Scholar 

  • VDI (1997) Cumulative energy demand—terms, definitions, methods of calculation. Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, Düsseldorf

    Google Scholar 

  • Wosnitza-Mendo C, Guevara-carrasco R, Ballón M (2005) Causas posibles de la drástica disminución de la longitud media de la merluza peruana en 1992 (Possible causes of the drastic decline in mean length of Peruvian hake in 1992). Callao: Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE)

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work, carried out by members (AA and PF) of the finalised Anchoveta Supply Chain (ANCHOVETA-SC) project (http://anchoveta-sc.wikispaces.com), is a contribution to the International Join Laboratory “Dynamics of the Humboldt Current System” (LMI-DISCOH) coordinated by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and the Instituto del Mar del Peru (IMARPE), and gathering several other institutions. It was carried out under the sponsoring of the Direction des Programmes de Recherche et de la formation au Sud (DPF) of the IRD.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ex-UMR 212 EME, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Université Montpellier I, Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne et Tropicale, Rue Jean Monnet—BP 171, 34203, SETE cedex, France

    Angel Avadí

  2. CIRAD, UPR Recyclage et risque, 34398, Montpellier, France

    Angel Avadí

  3. Overseas Solution Development (OSS), 4 boulevard Van Iseghem, 44000, Nantes cedex, France

    René Adrien

  4. Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Unidad de Postgrado, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, P.O. BOX 1898, Lima 100, Peru

    Víctor Aramayo

  5. UMR 248 MARBEC, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD). Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne et Tropicale, Rue Jean Monnet—BP 171, 34203, SETE cedex, France

    Pierre Fréon

Authors
  1. Angel Avadí
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. René Adrien
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Víctor Aramayo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Pierre Fréon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angel Avadí.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Friederike Ziegler

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOC 928 kb).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Avadí, A., Adrien, R., Aramayo, V. et al. Environmental assessment of the Peruvian industrial hake fishery with LCA. Int J Life Cycle Assess 23, 1126–1140 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-017-1364-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-017-1364-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation