The LCA approach as a tool to improve the environmental sustainability of the aquaculture sector

Fish farming implies high costs in terms of energy and materials, as well as various environmental impacts. Great attention should be paid to the use of the feed and the dissolved oxygen in the tanks; fishing and packaging phases must also be taken into account, with particular attention to the used materials: often different design solutions can significantly reduce the environmental costs associated with the system of packaging. Basing on these assumptions, the present work has concerned the fish farming “Il Padule” located in Grosseto (Italy) within a natural reserve: the environment of particular value needs constant attention and care to preserve it, therefore an evaluation of the pressures is needed. LCA results have highlighted that over the 50% of the total CO2 equivalent emissions are caused by the feeding process: future developments have to include the modelization of the feed production chain within the boundaries of the analysed system.