Decarbonizing Fisheries Through Ensuring Healthy Stock Status

Abstract

Industrial capture fisheries depend on fossil fuels, which tend to dominate both greenhouse gas emissions and operational costs of this form of seafood production. Improving energy efficiency is, in addition to shifting to alternative fuels, a crucial path towards decarbonizing fisheries. Theory suggests that healthy stocks, i.e., with higher density, should require less fuel to harvest when fishing effort and catches are correlated. This is a situation generally observed in bottom trawl fisheries. Rebuilding stocks could thus represent an important pathway for decarbonization. By analysing available time series data on fuel use intensity (FUI), fleet size and fish price in 13 European and U.S. bottom trawl fisheries, we find empirical evidence that lower FUI is associated with higher stock abundance. Lower FUI is also observed for catches with lower fish prices and with reductions in fleet size. Results suggest that rebuilding fish stocks by setting and following sustainable harvest limits combined with balancing fishing capacity with resource availability can be one part of a decarbonization strategy. However, economic incentives such as fish price and subsidies are counterproductive. Combined, this suggests that energy use and carbon emissions be considered as key fisheries management objectives. The sparse data availability of fuel use in fisheries also points to the need for standardised collection programs to allow for further research for improved understanding as well as monitoring progress towards societal objectives.

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