Lobster fisheries pump out equivalent emissions to beef, lamb
Choosing fish over pork, beef or lamb can be a more sustainable choice as fewer greenhouse gas emissions are produced, suggests new research from the University of British Columbia and Dalhousie University in Canada, and the University of Tasmania in Australia.
“Climate change is one of the biggest challenges for the future and we’re interested in the emissions created from how we feed ourselves and, in particular, how we produce protein,” said Robert Parker, lead author and postdoctoral fellow in UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. “Overall, we found that fish are a low-impact form of protein, but it depends on what you’re eating, how it’s caught, and how those fisheries are managed.”
The researchers calculated the greenhouse gas emissions from global fishing fleets between 1990 and 2011 by compiling data on fuel use by fishing boats. The study is the first to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from fisheries at national scales to better understand how they contribute to climate change, how emissions from fisheries have changed over time and how they compare to the broader carbon footprint of food production in each country.
“Overall, we found that fish are a low-impact form of protein, but it depends on what you’re eating, how it’s caught, and how those fisheries are managed”
Globally, the fishing industry contributes just four per cent of the world’s emissions from food production, and those emissions come largely from a few countries with very large fishing industries. Researchers found that China is responsible for a large portion of the world’s fishing emissions because of the size and scale of their fishery operations. Fisheries in China contribute more emissions than all European and North American fisheries combined.
While the carbon footprint of different fisheries is highly variable, approximately half of global fisheries produce less than 20 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions per kilogram of protein. In comparison, beef produces between 45 and 640 kilograms, pork produces between 20 and 55 and chicken produces between 10 and 30 kilograms of emissions per kilogram of protein, according to an earlier study out of the Netherlands.
Small pelagic fish such as anchovies, sardines and herring are most efficient because they school in big groups, making it easy to catch lots of fish at once. In Canada, for example, the Atlantic herring fishery produces far fewer emissions than most for each kilogram of fish caught.
Small pelagic fish such as anchovies, sardines and herring are most efficient because they school in big groups, making it easy to catch lots of fish at once
“It’s a low impact fishery and a great source of nutrition because it is high in protein and healthy oils,” said Parker. “Unfortunately, it’s a fish that often doesn’t get eaten; it and other small pelagic species are used for fishmeal or as bait for lobsters and other animals. If we replaced more of the red meat in our diet with lower impact protein sources like herring, we could cut the carbon cost of our food.”

Robert Parker
Crustaceans like shrimp and lobster now make up a bigger proportion of the global catch than they used to, but boats burn more fuel fishing for these shellfish because so few are harvested during each fishing trip, and some fisheries discard a lot of what they catch. Australia harvests large amounts of shrimps and lobsters and has one of the world’s most carbon intensive fishing industries.
“On average the Australian fishing industry emits 5.2 kilos of carbon dioxide for each kilogram of fish caught,” said Caleb Gardner, a professor with the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania and a co-author of the study. “This contrasts with the U.S., where each kilo of fish landed cost 1.6 kilos of carbon dioxide, and South America, where just one kilo of carbon dioxide is emitted for each kilo of fish due to high volumes of anchovies caught off Peru.”
The study was published this week in Nature Climate Change.
Tags: Climate change, fishing practices, IOF postdoctoral fellows, Marine catches, Robert Parker, Sustainability