Reducing food energy costs requires some accounting of various energy inputs for production and transport of different foods. Fishing can attain very high EROEI numbers when both fuel use per ton of production and transportation by ship to market are combined. Fishing can also produce very bad
negative EROEI numbers with inefficient fishing techniques are combined with air transport. So putting a premium on " fresh fish " could be replaced with " fresh frozen " fish premium. Knowing how much energy goes into the food you eat requires labeling food with energy input numbers. I believe Sweden has a energy labeling requirement for food and maybe someone could help educate us on how that works. Do people change their eating habits as a result?
One example given by Tyedmers (2008) describes the differences in the emissions due to the air transport of fresh Alaska salmon to San Francisco and the surface transport of Alaska frozen/smoked salmon to San Francisco. The transport emissions from the fresh salmon was nearly 20 times that from the transport of frozen/smoked salmon. Tyedmers’ study also found the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) for long haul shipping were by far the lowest of any transport method. In the California squid fishery, where much of the landings are transported by sea to Asia for processing and then some are returned to the US for consumption, the carbon footprint is among the lowest of global fisheries. In contrast, emissions from air transport of live California lobster to consumers in Asia are likely to be similar to those in the air transport of fresh Alaska salmon to San Francisco.
Summary: Combining the two major sources of energy usage and carbon emission, production and transport, it is clear that California’s purse-seine fishery has extremely low energy usage for production and low energy usage for transport. California’s trawl fisheries have average energy usage for both production and transport, while California’s lobster fishery has very high energy usage for both production and transport.
References:
Pelletier, N., E. Audsley, S. Brodt, T. Garnett, P. Henriksson, A. Kendall,K. Kramer, D. Murphy,T. Nemecek, and M. Troell. 2011. Energy Intensity of Agriculture and Food Systems. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 2011. 36:7.1–7.24
Philbin, C.W. 1980. Three different delivery modes ford fresh-caught Pacific whiting, Merluccius productus. Mar Fish Rev. Feb 1980 30-6.
Tyedmers P. 2001. ‘Energy consumed by North Atlantic fisheries.’ In Fisheries impacts on North Atlantic ecosystems: catch, effort and national/regional datasets (Eds D. Zeller, R. Watson, and D. Pauly). Fisheries Centre Research Reports, 2001, vol. 9(3), pp. 12–34 (Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia).
Tyedmers, P., 2004. Fisheries and energy use. Encyclopedia of Energy, Volume 2. Elsevier Inc. p. 683-93
Tyedmers, P. and R. Parker. 2012. Fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from global tuna fisheries: A preliminary assessment. ISSF Technical Report 2012-03. International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, McLean, Virginia, USA.
Tyedmers, P., 2008. The role of ‘food miles’ in the carbon intensity of seafood.
Wiviott D.J., and S.B. Mathews. 1975. Energy efficiency comparison between the Washington and Japanese otter trawl fisheries in the northeast Pacific. Mar. Fish. Rev. Vol. 37 (4): 21-24.
Woods, J., A. Williams, J.K. Hughes, M. Black, R. Murphy. 2010. Energy and the food system.
Philos.Trans. R. Soc. B 365:2991–3006
Ziesemer, J., 2007. Energy use in organic food systems. FAO. Natural Resources Management and Environment Department Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 28p.
http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/233069/energy-use-oa.pdf Table 1. Fuel consumption of fishing vessels in relation to landings (gallons of fuel per metric
ton of fish or shellfish).
Country Gear Species gal/mt
TRAWL (SHRIMP)
CanadaTrawlshrimp166
NorwayTrawlshrimp381
IcelandTrawlshrimp267
Average271
TRAWL (FISHES)
Canada 19991Trawlredfish, flatfish, cod109
Norway 19981Trawlcod, saithe, haddock135
Iceland 19971Trawlcod, redfish, saithe131
Germany 19981Trawlcod, plaice, haddock411
Japan (in USA) 19712Trawlrockfish, pollock, blackcod273
Washington 19712Trawlrockfish, cod, hake50
Monterey 2000-33Trawlrockfish, blackcod, flatfish104
Monterey 2010-23Trawlflatfish, sandabs, halibut197
Average176
OTHER BOTTOM GEAR
Canada 19991Dredgescallops90
Canada 19991Long-linecod, haddock, hake129
Canada 19991Gillnetcod, saithe, halibut378
Norway 19981Long-linecod, haddock, ling126
Iceland 19971 Long-linecod, haddock, dab158
Iceland 19971Hand-linecod, saithe, redfish161
Average213
LOBSTER
Norway1Trap lobster987
California3Trap lobster (Santa Cruz Is.)689
California3Traplobster (Point Loma)474
Average717
LARGE PELAGICS
Canada 19991Long-lineswordfish, tuna460
NE Pacific 1990s4Trollsalmon219
NE Pacific 1990s4Purse-seinesalmon95
Global5Purse-seinetuna97
Global5Long-linetuna283
Global5Pole and linetuna394
Average258
PELAGIC TRAWL (pelagic fishes)
Iceland `19971Pelagic trawlcapelin, herring, whiting21
Germany 19981Pelagic trawlmackerel, herring, sardine30
USA Oregon6Pelagic trawlhake9
Average20
PURSE SEINE (small pelagic fishes and squid)
Norway19981Purse-seineherring, whiting, mackerel27
Iceland 19971Purse-seineherring, capelin15
Canada 19991Purse-seineherring, capelin, mackerel8
USA East Coast 19991Purse-seinemenhaden8
USA California3Purse-seinesquid, sardine, mackerel6
Average13
COMPARATIVE FIELD CROPS AND MEAT PRODUCTION
USA7corn16
USA7soybean24
UK8milling wheat16
UK8potatoes8
UK8carrots11
UK8milk16
UK8pork108
UK8beef179
tomato (hot-house)787
1Tredmers (2001); 2Wiviott and Mathews (1975); 3unpublished data; 4Tredmers (2004) 5Tyedmers and Parker (2012), 6 Philbin (1980) . 7Woods et al 2010. 8 Ziesmer 2007.