Contact
Valur Norðri Gunnlaugsson
Research Group Leader
valur.n.gunnlaugsson@matis.is
The Icelandic fishing industry usually has a good story to tell. Fishing is managed with a quota system, which ensures that the fishing stocks are sustainable and that individual stocks are not hunted too far. Fishing here usually has a low soot footprint, and a lot has been done in recent years to reduce it. Utilization of the raw material is usually better than in many other places and transport to the market is more often than not carried out by ship transport, which has a many times lower carbon footprint than transport by air freight. These stories have been little flagged in marketing throughout the years.
During complex and time-consuming life cycle analyzes of fishing and processing of marine products, it has become clear that certain factors are key when calculating the carbon footprint of products. The fishing and oil consumption is a big factor, the utilization of the raw material is an important factor, the processing and transportation of raw materials and products, and then the packaging materials used, are the big issues when it comes to calculating the carbon footprint of products.
In the project, a web-based database will be prepared where Icelandic fishing companies can go in and enter information regarding fishing and processing and thus calculate the expected soot footprint for each production batch. This information, along with others that will be added to the base, should be used in marketing and to tell processors and even consumers the history of the products from catch to trade and inform users about its soot traces and purity.