Henriksson Patrik J G, Guinée Jeroen B, Kleijn René, de Snoo Geert R
Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Department of Industrial Ecology, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, the Netherlands.
Int J Life Cycle Assess. 2012;17(3):304-313. doi: 10.1007/s11367-011-0369-4. Epub 2011 Dec 24.
As capture fishery production has reached its limits and global demand for aquatic products is still increasing, aquaculture has become the world's fastest growing animal production sector. In attempts to evaluate the environmental consequences of this rapid expansion, life cycle assessment (LCA) has become a frequently used method. The present review of current peer-reviewed literature focusing on LCA of aquaculture systems is intended to clarify the methodological choices made, identify possible data gaps, and provide recommendations for future development within this field of research. The results of this review will also serve as a start-up activity of the EU FP7 SEAT (Sustaining Ethical Aquaculture Trade) project, which aims to perform several LCA studies on aquaculture systems in Asia over the next few years.
From a full analysis of methodology in LCA, six phases were identified to differ the most amongst ten peer-reviewed articles and two PhD theses (functional unit, system boundaries, data and data quality, allocation, impact assessment methods, interpretation methods). Each phase is discussed with regards to differences amongst the studies, current LCA literature followed by recommendations where appropriate. The conclusions and recommendations section reflects on aquaculture-specific scenarios as well as on some more general issues in LCA.
Aquaculture LCAs often require large system boundaries, including fisheries, agriculture, and livestock production systems from around the globe. The reviewed studies offered limited coverage of production in developing countries, low-intensity farming practices, and non-finfish species, although most farmed aquatic products originate from a wide range of farming practices in Asia. Apart from different choices of functional unit, system boundaries and impact assessment methods, the studies also differed in their choice of allocation factors and data sourcing. Interpretation of results also differed amongst the studies, and a number of methodological choices were identified influencing the outcomes.
Efforts should be made to increase transparency to allow the results to be reproduced, and to construct aquaculture related database(s). More extensive data reporting, including environmental flows, within the greater field of LCA could be achieved, without compromising the focus of studies, by providing supporting information to articles and/or reporting only ID numbers from background databases. More research is needed into aquaculture in Asia based on the latest progress made by the LCA community.
由于捕捞渔业产量已达极限，而全球对水产品的需求仍在增长，水产养殖已成为世界上增长最快的动物生产部门。为了评估这种快速扩张对环境的影响，生命周期评估（LCA）已成为一种常用方法。本次对当前同行评审文献中关于水产养殖系统LCA的综述旨在阐明所采用的方法选择，识别可能的数据缺口，并为该研究领域的未来发展提供建议。该综述结果也将作为欧盟第七框架计划SEAT（可持续道德水产养殖贸易）项目的启动活动，该项目旨在在未来几年对亚洲的水产养殖系统进行多项LCA研究。
通过对LCA方法的全面分析，确定了十个同行评审文章和两篇博士论文中差异最大的六个阶段（功能单元、系统边界、数据及数据质量、分配、影响评估方法、解释方法）。针对各研究之间的差异、当前LCA文献对每个阶段进行了讨论，并在适当的地方给出了建议。结论与建议部分既考虑了水产养殖特有的情况，也考虑了LCA中的一些更普遍的问题。
水产养殖LCA通常需要较大的系统边界，包括全球范围内的渔业、农业和畜牧生产系统。尽管大多数养殖水产品来自亚洲广泛的养殖方式，但综述研究对发展中国家的生产、低强度养殖方式和非鱼类品种的覆盖有限。除了功能单元、系统边界和影响评估方法的不同选择外，这些研究在分配因子和数据来源的选择上也存在差异。研究结果的解释也各不相同，并且确定了一些影响结果的方法选择。
应努力提高透明度，以便结果能够被重现，并构建与水产养殖相关的数据库。通过为文章提供支持信息和/或仅报告背景数据库中的识别编号，在不影响研究重点的情况下，可以在更大的LCA领域实现更广泛的数据报告，包括环境流量。基于LCA领域的最新进展，需要对亚洲的水产养殖进行更多研究。
