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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Aquac.
Sec. Society, Value Chains, Governance and Development
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/faquc.2024.1422372
This article is part of the Research Topic Aquaculture Embedded in Wider Agri-Food Systems View all articles

How sustainable is tuna aquaculture? A methodology to assess the sustainability of seafood production systems

Provisionally accepted
Jordi Guillen Jordi Guillen 1*Frank Asche Frank Asche 2,3Natacha Carvalho Natacha Carvalho 4Jean-Noel Druon Jean-Noel Druon 1Ignacio Llorente Ignacio Llorente 5Andrew Sciberras Andrew Sciberras 6Svjetlana Višnić Novaković Svjetlana Višnić Novaković 7Ivana Vukov Ivana Vukov 8
  • 1 Joint Research Centre (Italy), Ispra, Italy
  • 2 School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States
  • 3 Department of Safety, Economics and Planning, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
  • 4 European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 5 University of Cantabria, Santander, Cantabria, Spain
  • 6 Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Malta, Marsaxlokk, Malta
  • 7 Ministry of Agriculture. Directorate of Fisheries., Zagreb, Croatia
  • 8 Ministry of Agriculture. Directorate of Fisheries, Zagreb, Croatia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Considering the need to feed the increasing world population, it is essential to ensure that food production systems are sustainable. Aquaculture has been identified as a potential crucial source of sustainable food with its significant potential for future growth, notably by the recent EU regulations aiming at boosting food security and sustainable food systems. In this context, it is important to reflect on how the aquaculture of carnivorous species, which are exhibiting the highest growth rates, stands in respect of environmental impacts and contribution to the overall food supply. In particular, tuna aquaculture has been largely criticized for its high environmental impacts and general low sustainability. Here, we present a methodology to assess the sustainability of seafood production systems, with a first analysis applied to Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) aquaculture, detailed for both BFT fattening and farming. Results suggest that the limited economic and social contributions of BFT aquaculture do not currently compensate its environmental impacts with an estimate of a 3.4-fold higher long-term social cost than the short-term economic gain. However, it is also a species where the production cycle is not closed in commercial operation, and with a significant potential for further improvement as the control of the production process increases.

    Keywords: Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT), Fattening, farming, Carnivorous species, Economic contribution, Social contribution, Food security, European Union (EU)

    Received: 23 Apr 2024; Accepted: 29 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guillen, Asche, Carvalho, Druon, Llorente, Sciberras, Višnić Novaković and Vukov. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jordi Guillen, Joint Research Centre (Italy), Ispra, Italy

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