Harald Ellingsen

The Carbon Footprint of Norwegian Seafood Products on the Global Seafood Market

Greenhouse gas emissions caused by food production are receiving increased attention worldwide. A problem with many studies is that they only consider one product; methodological differences also make it difficult to compare results across studies. Using a consistent methodology to ensure comparability, we quantified the carbon footprint of more than 20 Norwegian seafood products, including fresh and frozen, processed and unprocessed cod, haddock, saithe, herring, mackerel, farmed salmon, and farmed blue mussels. The previous finding that fuel use in fishing and feed production in aquaculture are key inputs was confirmed. Additional key aspects identified were refrigerants used on fishing vessels, product yield, and by�?product use. Results also include that product form (fresh or frozen) only matters when freezing makes slower transportation possible. Processing before export was favorable due to the greater potential to use by�?products and the reduced need for transportation. The most efficient seafood product was herring shipped frozen in bulk to Moscow at 0.7 kilograms CO equivalents per kilogram (kg CO�?eq/kg) edible product. At the other end we found fresh gutted salmon airfreighted to Tokyo at 14 kg CO�?eq/kg edible product. This wide range points to major differences between seafood products and room for considerable improvement within supply chains and in product choices. In fisheries, we found considerable variability between fishing methods used to land the same species, which indicates the importance of fisheries management favoring the most resource�?efficient ways of fishing. Both production and consumption patterns matter, and a range of improvements could benefit the carbon performance of Norwegian seafood products.

Designing offshore fish cages using systems engineering principles

The human population reached 7 billion at the end of October 2011, accentuating the challenge to increase food production to meet the demand. Offshore mariculture, which does not depend on wild fish harvest, has the potential to become a primary food source to meet this demand. Despite an overall interest and justification in investments in offshore aquaculture, there are very few offshore cage designs suitable for use today. The goal of the current paper is to describe a research project that applied systems engineering principles to develop and document a set of requirements and identify the relevant technical components that are needed to design a sustainable offshore cage system. Requirements from the sector should be met by a robust environmentally friendly cage system ensuring the welfare of the fish and capable of producing a quality fish product demanded by the consumer. Future design work will build on the proposed preliminary architecture to satisfy these requirements.

A Bond Graph Approach to Improve the Energy Efficiency of Ships

High fuel consumption coupled with increasing fuel prices, emission regulations and increasing concern about the environment, act as incentives to reduce the energy consumption of ships. However, different barriers hinder the adoption of cost-effective energy saving measures by ship owners and operators. These barriers are the reason for the existence of an ‘energy efficiency gap’ between the current level of energy efficiency and the potential for development of higher order efficiency. Imperfect information regarding the current level of energy consumption of vessels, availability and application of energy saving measures, and the impact of adopting these measures, form a group of so called ‘information barriers’.The main objective of this article is to reduce those information barriers, as faced in shipping and more specifically in the fishing sector. The bond graph methodology is presented as a potential solution to these issues. It is utilized as a modeling and simulation method by which to visualize energy flow in a fishing vessel. The bond graph method is employed to estimate the fuel consumption of the vessel under different operational conditions: steaming, trawling and hauling of the fishing gear. It is also applied in pinpointing the major energy consuming apparatuses onboard the vessel. In this way knowledge regarding the current levels of energy consumption can be increased. The main energy consumers can then be studied to further improve energy efficiency knowledge and subsequently reduce the energy efficiency gap of the fishing vessel. Finally, the effectiveness of implementing a slow steaming strategy as a possible energy saving mechanism is studied.Copyright

An Optimum Design Concept for Offshore Cage Culture

There is an overwhelming support to move aquaculture cages into offshore waters. Some of the key drivers for moving into offshore waters are limitation of available space near the coast, conflicts within as well as other coastal users, prospect of limitless expansion in offshore sites, the potential for optimum growth conditions and the need to reduce the production cost by increasing the scale of operation. Therefore, by using a set of requirements derived earlier by the authors, the paper looks into the current offshore cage designing concepts in order to propose an optimum design concept for offshore aquaculture. With the help of an expert panel, representing various disciplines which are important for fish farm development, the assessment point towards a single point mooring cage concept as the best option for offshore aquaculture farming. This concept is demonstrated by the use of simple geometric relations and graphs, showing the relation between the total horizontal forces, FH, vertical force component, FV, as the cage submerge. While the contribution from the current, FHC, to the total horizontal force, FH, is kept constant, the contribution from the waves to the total horizontal force, FH, (as assumed to be 33%) is subjected to a reduction proportional to the factor e2kz, representing the reduction in water particle velocity as a function of depth. Further, in light of the requirements derived through the major stakeholders, this paper also propose an alternative classification of cages into two major categories, i.e. systems that are intended to resist and dissipate environmental forces and system that are designed to avoid environmental forces.Copyright

Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emission of Korean Offshore Fisheries

This paper presents the energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission assessments of Korean offshore fisheries. The consumption of energy by fisheries is a significant concern because of its attendant environmental effect, as well as the cost of the fuel consumed in fishing industry. With the global attention of reducing GHG emission and increasing energy efficiency of fuel, the seafood industry needs to further understand its energy use and reduce its GHG emission. In the present study, the amount of energy consumed and the GHG emission of Korean offshore fisheries in a period from 2009 to 2013 were examined. Offshore fisheries accounted for 24% of Korean production in 2013 and 60% of fuel consumption related GHG emission. Whereas the total GHG emission intensity of this sector improved slightly between 2009 and 2012; as such emission decreased by approximately 1.9%, which increased again in 2013. The average amount of total GHG emission in this five years period was 1.78 × 106 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent/year (t CO2 eq. y−1). Active fishing gear was found to consume 20% more fuel than passive gear. However, the production from passive gear was 28%, lower than 72% from active gear. The reason for this is that less abundant stationary resources are harvested using passive gear. Furthermore, the consumption of fuel was significantly influenced by the fishing method. Implementation and development of new fishing technologies and methods are important for improving energy efficiency and reducing the climate impact on fisheries. To realize these purposes, the fishery management system needs to be established by centralizing on energy efficiency and climate effect.