Life cycle assessment of aquaculture production in Greece

Abstract

This study presents a comprehensive life cycle assessment of aquaculture, focusing on gilthead seabream, European seabass, meagre, and red seabream within the Greek industry, a major producer in the EU with a 131,250 tonne output in 2021. Data were sourced from Hellenic Aquaculture Producers Organisation members, representing about 20% of the Greek market, covering the entire production chain including hatcheries, farms, and packaging facilities. The system boundaries were expanded compared to preceding literature to include fry production based on primary data in addition to feed production, fish rearing, and packaging. Environmental impacts were assessed across nine impact categories, with global warming potentials ranging from 2,270 to 4,161 kg CO₂-eq per tonne for gilthead seabream and red seabream, respectively. Fish feed and fry production were significant contributors to most impact categories, except eutrophication, which was dominated by rearing. Key parameters causing inter-species variations were the feed conversion ratio and juvenile input. The study also contributes detailed inventory tables for the foreground system, covering production and packaging stages. The findings highlight how actions across the Greek aquaculture production chain could mitigate environmental impacts, in addition to providing a comprehensive dataset to enhance methodological rigor in future Mediterranean aquaculture LCA studies.