title: Comparison of Asian Aquaculture Products by Use of Statistically Supported Life Cycle Assessment.
abstract: We investigated aquaculture production of Asian tiger shrimp, whiteleg shrimp, giant river prawn, tilapia, and pangasius catfish in Bangladesh, China, Thailand, and Vietnam by using life cycle assessments (LCAs), with the purpose of evaluating the comparative eco-efficiency of producing different aquatic food products. Our starting hypothesis was that different production systems are associated with significantly different environmental impacts, as the production of these aquatic species differs in intensity and management practices. In order to test this hypothesis, we estimated each system's global warming, eutrophication, and freshwater ecotoxicity impacts. The contribution to these impacts and the overall dispersions relative to results were propagated by Monte Carlo simulations and dependent sampling. Paired testing showed significant (p < 0.05) differences between the median impacts of most production systems in the intraspecies comparisons, even after a Bonferroni correction. For the full distributions instead of only the median, only for Asian tiger shrimp did more than 95% of the propagated Monte Carlo results favor certain farming systems. The major environmental hot-spots driving the differences in environmental performance among systems were fishmeal from mixed fisheries for global warming, pond runoff and sediment discards for eutrophication, and agricultural pesticides, metals, benzalkonium chloride, and other chlorine-releasing compounds for freshwater ecotoxicity. The Asian aquaculture industry should therefore strive toward farming systems relying upon pelleted species-specific feeds, where the fishmeal inclusion is limited and sourced sustainably. Also, excessive nutrients should be recycled in integrated organic agriculture together with efficient aeration solutions powered by renewable energy sources.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University , 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Patrik J G
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Henriksson
authors.affiliation: Alterra, Wageningen University and Research Centre , 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Andreu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rico
authors.affiliation: College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University , Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Wenbo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Fisheries, Bangladesh Agricultural University , Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Sk
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmad-Al-Nahid
authors.affiliation: Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling , Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.affiliation: Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling , Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, United Kingdom.|Department of Inland Resources & Fisheries Capture, Research Institute for Aquaculture No. 2 , Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Lam T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Phan
authors.affiliation: College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University , Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Zongfeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Fisheries, Kasetsart University , Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
authors.forename: Jintana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jaithiang
authors.affiliation: College of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Can Tho University , Can Tho, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Hai M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Dao
authors.affiliation: College of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Can Tho University , Can Tho, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Tran M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Phu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling , Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Little
authors.affiliation: Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling , Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Francis J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Fisheries, Kasetsart University , Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
authors.forename: Kriengkrai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Satapornvanit
authors.affiliation: College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University , Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University , Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Qigen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Fisheries, Bangladesh Agricultural University , Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: M Mahfujul
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Haque
authors.affiliation: WorldFish , Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Froukje
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kruijssen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University , 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Geert R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: de Snoo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University , 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Reinout
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heijungs
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University , 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: van Bodegom
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University , 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jeroen B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Guinée
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D017756:Aquaculture / Q000379:methods*; D001459:Bangladesh; D002397:Catfishes; D002681:China; D003445:Crustacea; D004777:Environment; D005068:Eutrophication; D057232:Global Warming; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D010575:Pesticides; D013785:Thailand; D017210:Tilapia; D014744:Vietnam
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides