RT Journal Article
T1 Carbon footprint, economic benefits and sustainable fishing: Lessons for the future from the Western Mediterranean
A1 Muñoz, María
A1 Reul, Andreas
A1 Guijarro, Beatriz
A1 Hidalgo, Manuel
K1 Ecología
K1 Geología
AB Ensuring an economically viable, sustainable and low CO2 emission extractive fishery is critical in order to achieve sustainable development goals and the climate change commitments. This challenge is even more relevant in the most overexploited region of the world: The Mediterranean Sea. Here, we use the socio-ecological system of the Spanish Mediterranean commercial fisheries (Northern Alboran Sea, Northern Spain and the Balearic Islands) to develop an integrative impact assessment, including detailed socio-economic, ecosystem indices of the trophic structure of extractive fishery and CO2 emission analyses combining different gear, vessel size classes as well as a wide range estimation of carbon release from the seafloor by bottom trawling. Northern Alboran Sea preferentially requires reduction in purse seine fishery while in Northern Spain bottom trawling should be reduced first to reach sustainable exploitation. Fuel CO2 footprint of purse seine and bottom trawling are among the lowest footprints of animal protein production, but considering sweeping released CO2 from the seafloor the bottom trawling footprint becomes the animal protein production with the highest footprint. Moreover, the lowest bottom released CO2 estimation overrides 2.7–10 times the CO2 buried in the seafloor through the biological pump in trawled areas potentially turning the continental shelf from a CO2 sink to a CO2 source. Net profit per fuel derived CO2 emission for all fleets is lower than 1€ kgCO2−1, being lowest for large bottom trawler (0.025 € kgCO2−1).Thus, urgent mitigation and adaptation measures are necessary to obtain sustainable fishery in terms of net profit, sustainable seafood extraction and CO2 emission reduction. Our study provides scientific bases to develop these measures such as the restriction of harmful fishing gear in carbon rich river influenced areas, reduction of bottom contact of the fishing gear, favouring purse seine fishery and smaller bottom trawlers.
PB Elsevier
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/25771
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/25771
LA spa
NO M. Muñoz, A. Reul, B. Guijarro, M. Hidalgo, Carbon footprint, economic benefits and sustainable fishing: Lessons for the future from the Western Mediterranean, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 865, 2023, 160783,
NO MM, BG and MH acknowledge funding received by specific Contracts and EASME/EMFF/2020/3.2.6/Lot2/SC08 “Climate Change and the Common Fisheries Policy: adaptation and building resilience to the effects of climate change on fisheries of greenhouse gases from fishing”, signed with the CINEA (The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency) and funded by the European Union. MM, acknowledge support by “Plan Propio Universidad de Málaga”.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CUBA.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 19 ene 2026