Analysing the sustainability of fishing

Everything from fuel consumption and economic considerations to the impact on local communities will be calculated, as will the welfare of both the fish and employees.

The WhiteFish Project focuses on cod and haddock fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic.

Three scientists from Nofima – Senior Scientist Petter Olsen (Project Coordinator) and Scientists Kine Mari Karlsen and Kathryn Donnelly – are participating in the project.

They will develop a tool to enable companies and fishing boat owners to carry out a life-cycle assessment (sustainability impact) of their products. The tool will be developed in 2014 will be free to all in the industry wanting to document environmental impact and sustainability.

The first phase of the project will concentrate on accessible data, for example fuel consumption, based on case studies.

“In the next phase of the project, we will systemize a series of data in order to achieve the broadest possible picture of the enterprise’s sustainability impact. We will use life-cycle assessment (LCA), which encompasses cradle to grave thinking for products and the instruments used in creating them, from production of the boat through to production and sale,” says Ms Donnelly.

Senior Scientist Petter Olsen says that the project participants include the freezer trawler Hermes, which has charted fuel consumption and emission, and the Norwegian Fishermen’s Sales Organisation, which is responsible for ensuring the tool becomes known and is used beyond the limits of the project.