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A team of researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) has found that fishing for hake in the waters of Galicia produces lower emissions of greenhouse gases than in fishing grounds like Gran Sol.
The study was published in the latest edition of the journal Science of the Total Environment, which analyses the data on the emissions of greenhouse gases from fishing in Galicia by species and fishing techniques.
According to estimates by scientists, the influence of carbon dioxide (CO2) on this activity is 888.62 tonnes per year.
"At first, the study was created to analyse the CO2 influence from various seafood such as sardines or hake – representative species of the sector in Galicia. But considering the high number of boats that could be inventoried and analysed, we finally made a more ambitious research to examine all the fishing fleets of Galicia in an integrated way and estimated the total emissions for a year," Ian Vázquezx-Rowe, material co-author and researcher from USC.
During the two phases of the study, researchers tracked the deep water, inshore and aquaculture fishing vessels from Galicia in 2009.
In a first step, experts contacted fishermen's associations to receive the required information and, in a second phase, they made direct field trips to increase the number of data.
Vázquez-Rowe added, "We took representative samples from the various fishing fleets such as longline vessels and trawlers. Also, for certain data we contacted shipyard and providers of certain materials such as refrigerants."
According to the results of the USC team, vessels fishing on the coast consume less diesel per tonne caught than deep sea vessels.
At the same time, significant differences were proved according to the fishing method.
“Deep sea ships that go to the Indian or the Pacific Ocean, as they are purse seiners, use less diesel and other substances that produce effects on climate change. However, most deep sea ships that were analysed in Gran Sol, which were trawlers, have a much higher energy intensity because of the features of this type of fishing," added the researcher.
In the scientist’s opinion, the hake is a very interesting case because it is caught in many fisheries.
"It's a kind of fish consumed in Spain par excellence and, according to our research, whiting fished on the Galician coast produces a less environmental impact on climate change than when it is captured in Gran Sol. However, the fishing method, which is trawling, is the same. The same is true in the fishery in Mauritania," he said.
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