Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The U.S. government advises doubling seafood consumption for health reasons, however, many wild caught seafood supplies are threatened and require high energy inputs, and aquaculture (farmed seafood) commonly requires great energy and water use. Meanwhile, nearly half of the U.S. seafood supply is wasted. The proposed research tests the hypothesis that it is feasible to reduce U.S. seafood energy and water use by 20% each through strategies that improve seafood production systems (10%) and reduce waste (10%). The strategies will be considered acceptable, feasible and often cost-saving by those responsible for implementation. This interdisciplinary project addresses multiple information gaps, including inadequate characterization of water and energy use in the rapidly growing sector of crop-based aquaculture feeds; data quality limits in characterizing seafood waste; and a dearth of research into interventions to reduce seafood resource use and waste. The team will communicate strategically to increase adoption of prioritized strategies and shape seafood demand.The research goal is to measure energy and water use in seafood production and seafood waste, and identify reduction strategies. To accomplish it, this project draws together interdisciplinary tools in a mixed methods approach. The first project objective is to measure energy and water use in theproductionof seven top seafood products in the US seafood supply, and to identify optimal energy and water use reduction strategies. The seven products include farmed and wild caught species from domestic and international sources. The research will trace aquaculture feed supply chains to enable resource use and cost estimates, perform lifecycle analysis of production and consumption of all seven seafood products, model impacts of selected interventions, and seek expert input regarding intervention acceptability. The team will also develop communication tools including a proof of concept energy and water use calculator that will be available to consumers. The second objective is to measure and reduce energy and water use in seafoodwaste. The team will refine estimates of US seafood supply chain waste and interview supply chain actors to learn more about the determinants of waste and potential interventions. They will also quantify consumer-level seafood waste and identify key socio-behavioral determinants of consumer waste through diary data collection and an associated survey complemented by in depth interviews. They will integrate seafood waste data with the lifecycle analysis to estimate lost energy and water, and model impacts of various waste reduction scenarios. They will then use a multiple case study approach to describe implementation of three existing interventions to address seafood waste (improved fishing methods, waste management policies, and a consumer frozen seafood intervention.) The project's last objective involves integrating findings, developing recommendations, communicating the results, and evaluating the project. The project responds to a significant research need by strengthening understanding of how US seafood systems interact with and burden energy and water resource systems. The research further breaks new ground by linking quantitative and qualitative methods to find solutions that are both impactful and considered acceptable and feasible by industry, government and consumers. The case studies will provide the most in-depth exploration to date of challenges and opportunities in real-world implementation of seafood resource reduction interventions, and will also provide related insights needed in broader food waste reduction efforts.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
5%
Applied
75%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
Goal: Reduce energy and water use in the US seafood supply. We will test the hypothesis that it is feasible to reduce energy and water use by at least 20% each through improved seafood production systems (10%) and reduced waste (10%) with limited, if any, economic cost and no loss of nutritional quality. The changes would involve widespread adoption of best practices and other shifts deemed acceptable, feasible and often cost-saving by those responsible for implementation.Objectives:1. Measure energy and water use in seafood production and identify optimal reduction strategies: Examine variation in production resource use for seven top seafood products. Identify a set of systems interventions to reduce resource use. Model potential impacts. Seek input on intervention acceptability from industry and others.2. Measure energy and water use in seafood waste and identify optimal reduction strategies: Determine the extent, composition, and key factors affecting seafood waste from production to consumption. Estimate lost water and energy resulting from seafood waste. Identify a set of systems interventions to reduce seafood waste. Model potential impacts. Seek input on intervention acceptability from industry, consumers and others. Provide three case studies describing implementation of selected seafood waste reduction strategies.3. Integrate findings, develop recommendations and communicate: Synthesize findings and make recommendations. Communicate with general and targeted audiences. Evaluate project.
Project Methods
This project draws together interdisciplinary tools in a mixed methods approach. The first project objective is to measure energy and water use in theproductionof seven top seafood products in the US seafood supply, and to identify optimal energy and water use reduction strategies. The seven products include farmed and wild caught species from domestic and international sources. The research will trace aquaculture feed supply chains to enable resource use and cost estimates, perform lifecycle analysis of production and consumption of all seven seafood products, model impacts of selected interventions, and seek expert input regarding intervention acceptability. The team will also develop communication tools including a proof of concept energy and water use calculator that will be available to consumers. The second objective is to measure and reduce energy and water use in seafoodwaste. The team will refine estimates of US seafood supply chain waste and interview supply chain actors to learn more about the determinants of waste and potential interventions. They will also quantify consumer-level seafood waste and identify key socio-behavioral determinants of consumer waste through diary data collection and an associated survey complemented by in depth interviews. They will integrate seafood waste data with the lifecycle analysis to estimate lost energy and water, and model impacts of various waste reduction scenarios. They will then use a multiple case study approach to describe implementation of three existing interventions to address seafood waste (improved fishing methods, waste management policies, and a consumer frozen seafood intervention.) The project's last objective involves integrating findings, developing recommendations, communicating the results, and evaluating the project.Evaluation: Project implementation and outcomes will be described in a summary report with the following components. 1) Process evaluation: Verify that objectives were completed.; 2) Validating estimates: Compare estimates of resource use in seafood production, seafood waste, and consumer waste with available published estimates to assure they are in the same range and yield similar values in areas where results are expected to be similar; 3) Validating qualitative findings: Use triangulation to assess extent to which similar findings are obtained from different qualitative and quantitative approaches where available; and perform respondent validation (seeking feedback on analysis findings from interviewees) to assure that findings align with respondents' perceptions and that any misaligned findings can be explained and supported by the data; 4) Impact evaluation: Use LCA modeling tools to project potential reduction in seafood waste and waste of feed, water and energy inputs if roadmap strategies are implemented; the findings will also be summarized in one of the project activities; 5) Communication effectiveness: Document extent to which project findings were communicated in media. 6) Stakeholder uptake: Document extent to which stakeholders expressed interest in the findings, attended events, and indicated plans to use the findings.