Oceans, the largest absorber of incoming solar radiation, are impacted by climate change
Five climate change drivers have mainly been impacting the marine ingredients industry
Fisheries and aquaculture can play a greater role in delivering nutrition…
… by helping produce five times more farmed fish than it has been using raw material to produce fishmeal and fish oil
Source: Kok et al., 2020 [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2020.735474]
The marine ingredients industry relies on a low carbon value chain, from fishing methods…
… to production and processing
Key: PC = Protein Concentrate, BP = Byproduct, CN = China, FR = France, BR = Brazil, PE = Peru, DK = Denmark
The soy data are averages across each sector and do not differentiate sustainable or certified sources.
The use of by products, which would otherwise have been discarded, reduces pressure on the oceans
The marine ingredients industry has been supporting the growth of aquaculture as the most effective way to produce protein, and will continue to do so
Action is already being taken by the marine ingredients industry
Since 2023, the industry has been contributing to a life cycle assessment database
In June 2024, the leading scientific journal in fisheries science, Reviews in Fisheries Science and Aquaculture, published a review analysing the evolution of sustainability metrics for the marine ingredients sector. In this review, the authors look at the origin of those metrics, their assumptions and limitations and propose a path forward. Life cycle assessment (LCA) analyses are considered the most practical and robust option for use as a shared metric system.
More to be done: IFFO encourages the industry to take further actions and reduce their production’s carbon footprint, while assessing impacts throughout all stages of the value chain
IFFO advocates for decision-makers to invest more in blue food systems
