Carp (Cyprinidae) Fisheries in Swedish Lakes : A Combined Environmental Assessment Approach to Evaluate Data-limited Freshwater Fish Resources as Food

• The role of aquatic resources to food security is both promising and constrained since the global seafood consumption is increasing while marine fisheries approach the limit of what it can produce. In Sweden, the seafood consumption per capita is higher than the European and world average but the current dietary advice is to increase consumption. Freshwater fisheries have in general been paid less attention in food security discussions. Carp fishes (Cyprinidae) in Sweden have lost their historical value and are currently, both understudied and underutilized. Here we use a combined environmental assessment approach to examine the environmental sustainability of current and potential cyprinid fisheries. We found that current commercial fisheries for Swedish cyprinids in lakes have an average carbon footprint of 0.77 kg CO2e per kg of edible product, substantially smaller than most of the popular marine and terrestrial protein sources consumed in Sweden today. This could be even lower if cyprinid resources were better utilized than currently. The cyprinids however exhibited different vulnerability to fishing pressure and are today associated with data deficiencies. Hence, it is currently uncertain how much food for human consumption they can contribute to. Improved consumer interest and management attention is needed, but to the Swedish diet, cyprinids offer a promising opportunity for future more sustainable and nutritious food systems.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Cyprinidae

Environmental assessment

Food security

Freshwater fisheries

Life cycle assessment

Productivity susceptibility analysis

Carbon footprint

Environmental impact

Fish

Fisheries

Food supply

Lakes

Life cycle

Sustainable development

Water

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Susceptibility analysis

Meats

Environmental assessment

Life cycle assessment

Productivity

susceptibility analysis

Freshwater fisheries

Cyprinidae

Food security

inland fisheries

extinction risk

sustainability

biodiversity

management

security

climate

Environmental Sciences & Ecology

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)