Sustainability Assessment of Aquaculture Practices

The rapid expansion of aquaculture has made it essential to evaluate its environmental, social and economic dimensions. Sustainability assessment in this sector typically employs life cycle assessment (LCA), carbon footprinting and multi-criteria decision analysis to quantify impacts from feed production, water and energy use, nutrient discharge and greenhouse gas emissions. Key concerns include the sourcing and composition of feeds, water consumption and effluent management, energy demands of recirculating systems, and habitat alteration. Emerging approaches such as integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA), aquaponics and renewable energy integration seek to mitigate environmental burdens while maintaining productivity. Socio-economic factors—market access, community livelihoods and regulatory frameworks—are increasingly incorporated to ensure that technological innovations align with food security goals and local contexts. This holistic perspective supports evidence-based interventions to improve resource efficiency, reduce ecological footprints and foster resilient aquaculture supply chains.

Research from Nature Portfolio

New analyses have quantified global greenhouse gas emissions from aquaculture, revealing that farmed finfish and shellfish contributed approximately 0.5 percent of anthropogenic emissions in 2017. This low intensity compared with terrestrial livestock arises from the absence of enteric methane and favourable feed conversion ratios. The study maps regional variations in emissions, highlighting feed production and on-farm energy use as primary hotspots. It underscores opportunities to further reduce climate impacts through optimised feed formulations, renewable energy adoption and improved operational management, and provides a baseline for tracking progress towards climate mitigation in aquatic food systems.

Sustainability Assessment of Aquaculture Practices publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in sustainability assessment of aquaculture practices across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): A standardised methodology to evaluate environmental impacts of a product or system from raw material extraction to end-of-life.

Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS): A closed-loop aquaculture design that filters and reuses water to minimise consumption and effluent discharge.

Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA): A practice that co-cultivates species from different trophic levels to recycle nutrients and reduce environmental impacts.

Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR): The mass of feed required to produce one unit of animal biomass, indicating feeding efficiency.

Global Warming Potential (GWP): A metric expressing the relative heat-trapping effect of a greenhouse gas over a specified time horizon, typically 100 years.

References

1. Fish beyond fillets: Life cycle assessment of cross-processing herring and lingonberry co-products into a food product. Resources Conservation and Recycling (2023).
2. Upscaling and environmental impact assessment of an innovative integrated multi-trophic aquaponic system. Journal of Environmental Management (2024).
3. Quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from global aquaculture. Scientific Reports (2020).