The subcategory of seafood contains three commodities — shrimp, salmon, and tuna — representing very distinct aspects of the seafood industry. The three were chosen for the team’s analysis as salmon are representative of farmed fish, shrimp are representative of farmed crustaceans, and wild-caught tuna are representative of wild-caught seafood.
Within this subcategory, common overarching points of interest are centered around the different parts of the supply chain. Special interest is concentrated in the transportation stage, as seafood is often produced in a few geographical regions and exported to consumers worldwide through various methods, including emissions-heavy air-lifting. Trends vary between the specific commodities, but strong direct correlations between GHG emissions and acidification potential exist for all three.
Seafood is often treated separately from other agricultural products, so data availability was often limiting. Unfortunately, comprehensive data on seafood commodities remains comparatively scarce, especially for wild-caught tuna. However, given the huge growth of fisheries and aquaculture— with a 48% increase in capture fishery production and a staggering 1160% increase in aquaculture production worldwide in the past three decades— it is imperative to ensure environmentally safe practices are utilized in this expansion.
Table 1. An overview of the correlations found among the data for salmon, shrimp, and tuna. Data from Poore and Nemecek (2018), Ayer (2009), Parker (2017), Pelletier (2009), Cao et al. (2011), Aubin et al. (2014), Avadí et al. (2015), Hillborn et al. (2006), Hospido et al. (2006), Hospido & Tyedmers (2005), Minami et al. (2004), Parker et al. (2014), Poovarodom et al. (2011), Tan & Culaba (2009), Tyedmers & Parker (2012), and Wilson & McCoy (2009).
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