Review of Energy Consumption by the Fish Farming and Processing Industry in Croatia and the Potential for Zero-Emissions Aquaculture

Abstract

Higher energy efficiency and lower environmental impact have become very important aspects in the evaluation of the design and operation of technical systems. The same goes for the fish farming sector, which continuously aims to reduce its environmental footprint as well as its operating costs. This paper reviews the energy needs of the fish farming sector and their impact on the environment, and discusses the possibilities of improving the environmental friendliness of this sector by employing a higher share of renewable energy sources. The fish farming process is divided into its constitutive phases: fish breeding with associated activities, transportation, and handling of grown fish, together with relevant processes; and final processing and distribution to the customers. For these phases, the energy consumption and associated emissions, depending on the energy source, have been assessed. The parts of the process with the highest potential for the integration of alternative powering options and consequent environmental improvements are identified. The case study deals with the fish farming process in Croatia, for which a set of alternative powering options has been proposed, considering the existing energy supply, i.e., import of fossil fuels and current Croatian electricity mix, as well as renewable energy potential, which is reviewed in the paper.

Extended Bibliometric Review of Technical Challenges in Mariculture Production and Research Hotspot Analysis

“…When a fish reaches the appropriate weight and size, in the cages, it is then caught and transported to the harbor, and, later, to the factory for fish processing. This latter part of the production includes processing such as washing, chilling, skinning, filleting, cooking, smoking, salting, drying, preserving or canning, and dispatching [6].…”

“…Feeding can be operated manually or automatically, but it is more efficient to use automatic feeders. The feeding procedure accounts for around 50-75% of total expenses [6]. Some of the research that dealt with feeding technologies are conducted in [28][29][30].…”

Net-Zero Industry: Options for Plastics, Textiles, Automobiles, and Fisheries in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru

“…MacLeod et al, 2015) IV. the operation of fish farms (Bujas et al, 2022;Scroggins et al, 2022;Vo et al, 2021) V. the operation of fish-processing plants (Alzahrani et al, 2019(Alzahrani et al, , 2020(Alzahrani et al, , 2022 VI. the building and operation of long-distance cargo vessels that transport products to market (Bouman et al, 2017;Mallouppas & Yfantis, 2021);…”

“…Fish and other marine animals (e.g., crustaceans) are fed with high-protein pellets, often called aquafeeds, which are made from by-products of wild-catch fishing (fish meal and fish oil), plant-based proteins (soy, corn), or livestock production by-products (meat, bone meal) (Hua et al, 2019). The upstream agricultural, manufacturing, and transporting of feed pellets for aquaculture farms are a significant source of GHGs (Bujas et al, 2022); for many species these processes can account for between 57%-70% of the total emissions footprint of the seafood (Gephart et al, 2021;M. J. MacLeod et al, 2020).…”

“…Large-scale decarbonization of grid electricity and replacement of diesel fuels with zero-emissions alternatives will be required to bring aquaculture operations in line with netzero aspirations. A number of existing studies have investigated the integration of renewable energy with aquaculture operations (Bujas et al, 2022;Scroggins et al, 2022;Vo et al, 2021), including floating solar (Pringle et al, 2017) and wave energy generators (Garavelli et al, 2022) for sites that are far offshore. Very remote locations may also need to supplement their energy-supply systems with batteries and/or a form of low-carbon fuel supply such as green hydrogen (Jebsen, 2021).…”