LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

PARALLEL SESSION 6B: FISHIERIES, SOIL, AND EMERGY METHODS 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
terms of midpoint impacts or endpoint damage categories. Endpoint categories have higher model uncertainty
but also higher explanatory value, and they target defined safeguard objects of Natural ecosystems,
Natural resources or Human health, (Finnveden et al., 2009). The theoretical impact pathways implies that
overfishing is presently damaging two out of three safeguard objects which are mandatory to check and address
interpretation of according to the new ILCD standard (ILCD 2010). Clearly, overfishing is a scientifically
underpinned and relevant environmental aspect of fishery systems from a natural ecosystem and resource
perspective, which is stressed by an increasing international focus. Yet, no seafood LCA has accounted
for overfishing as a quantitative impact category with resolution sufficient to match fishery management
needs, seafood guide criteria’s or existing sustainable seafood labelling frameworks, which all require
(as minimum) single stock exploitation boundaries to address overfishing.
2. Theory
The Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) concept has been reinstated as a management goal for the European
Union (EC 2006) and the ratification of the Johannesburg summit agenda has given a deadline until
2015 to restore all stocks to levels capable of producing maximum sustainable yield (JPOI 2002). Transition
towards an MSY based management has also been implemented in the advice given by ICES, the International
Council for Exploration of the Seas, to the European Commission and ultimately Council of Fisheries
ministers, that annually set the total allowable fishing quotas for all major European fisheries. Stock summary
outputs from these assessments are easily accessible on an annual basis, which are based on models
using year class tracking time series of commercial landing and multinational stock surveys. Total biomass
(TB) and spawning stock biomass (SSB), typically the mature part of the stock, are two of the metadata
given by the assessments. Aggregated fishing mortality (F) is another, and the primary regulating indicator
that measures the annual fraction of harvested spawning stock biomass. When F is set to a calculated FMSY
(i.e. varying quotas but constant mortality from fisheries), the fish stocks will over time lead to MSY, the
maximum long-term sustainable catches, as the biomass oscillates around BMSY (Fig. 1). In European assessments
the F and B refers to SSB, and hereafter in this work, but other assessments could also refer to TB.
Figure 1. With increased fishing pressure F, the spawning stock biomass will decline (dotted line) rendering
increased long term yields (filled line) until F = FMSY after which the long term yields will start to decrease.
The corresponding biomass at FMSY will fluctuate around BMSY implying landings at MSY. Used with kind
permission from International Council for Exploration of the Seas.
However, ICES only provides BTRIGGER a safeguard limit above which recruitment (successful reproduction)
should not be impaired. But first when the theoretical BMSY values have been computed can a recovery time
until full capacity is restored be established. This could motivate even higher decreases in F in some cases,
as for example stopping all fishing until stocks have recovered to their full potential of providing MSY
catches. When BMSY values was assessed for all European stocks in 2010, the conclusion was that with current
fishing pressure would have missed to restore 91% of the stocks for the management plan by 2015
(Froese and Proelß 2010).
3. Methods
To quantify pathways towards potential damage targeting natural ecosystem and natural resources we propose
three mid-point impact categories related to the MSY approach. Primarily we defined the impact category
of Wasted Potential Yield (WPY), which represent the long-term damage to the biotic resource and
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