IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i14p7779-d592936.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

DEXiAqua, a Model to Assess the Sustainability of Aquaculture Systems: Methodological Development and Application to a French Salmon Farm

Author

Listed:
  • Samuel Le Féon

    (Independent Researcher in Environmental Assessment, Pépinière ESS, 23 rue des Chênes, 35630 Langouët, France)

  • Théo Dubois

    (UMR SAS, INRAE, Institut Agro, 35000 Rennes, France)

  • Christophe Jaeger

    (UMR SAS, INRAE, Institut Agro, 35000 Rennes, France)

  • Aurélie Wilfart

    (UMR SAS, INRAE, Institut Agro, 35000 Rennes, France)

  • Nouraya Akkal-Corfini

    (UMR SAS, INRAE, Institut Agro, 35000 Rennes, France)

  • Jacopo Bacenetti

    (Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Giovanni Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy)

  • Michele Costantini

    (Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Giovanni Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy)

  • Joël Aubin

    (UMR SAS, INRAE, Institut Agro, 35000 Rennes, France)

Abstract

Aquaculture is increasingly considered a major contributor to the growing demand for worldwide seafood production. Sustainability is becoming a key issue for aquaculture systems, with the objective to produce seafood with lower environmental impacts and that is economically viable and socially fair. In the context of the SIMTAP project, a multi-attribute model called DEXiAqua was developed. DEXiAqua uses the DEX method to assess the sustainability of aquaculture systems via indicators from technical domains and reference methods (i.e., life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, social life cycle assessment, and emergy accounting) selected and organized by the partners in the SIMTAP project. The DEX method consists of building an attribute tree that is organized to characterize a complex problem. Qualitative or quantitative indicators are measured at the end of each branch of the tree. The value of each indicator is translated into a qualitative scale for the associated attribute via threshold values. Weighted utility functions are used to build attributes from sub-attributes until the attribute of overall sustainability is reached. DEXiAqua was applied to a case study of salmon farming in France, which illustrated its ability to assess overall sustainability and help identify ways to improve the production system by identifying environmental, social, and economic hotspots. More case studies are required to apply DEXiAqua to a variety of systems with technical and contextual differences, which could result in changing attribute weights to adapt it better to different contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Samuel Le Féon & Théo Dubois & Christophe Jaeger & Aurélie Wilfart & Nouraya Akkal-Corfini & Jacopo Bacenetti & Michele Costantini & Joël Aubin, 2021. "DEXiAqua, a Model to Assess the Sustainability of Aquaculture Systems: Methodological Development and Application to a French Salmon Farm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-28, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7779-:d:592936
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7779/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7779/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wesley Malcorps & Björn Kok & Mike van‘t Land & Maarten Fritz & Davy van Doren & Kurt Servin & Paul van der Heijden & Roy Palmer & Neil A. Auchterlonie & Max Rietkerk & Maria J. Santos & Simon J. Davi, 2019. "The Sustainability Conundrum of Fishmeal Substitution by Plant Ingredients in Shrimp Feeds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Czyrnek-Delêtre, Magdalena M. & Rocca, Stefania & Agostini, Alessandro & Giuntoli, Jacopo & Murphy, Jerry D., 2017. "Life cycle assessment of seaweed biomethane, generated from seaweed sourced from integrated multi-trophic aquaculture in temperate oceanic climates," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 34-50.
    3. Jennifer S. Ford & Nathan L. Pelletier & Friederike Ziegler & Astrid J. Scholz & Peter H. Tyedmers & Ulf Sonesson & Sarah A. Kruse & Howard Silverman, 2012. "Proposed Local Ecological Impact Categories and Indicators for Life Cycle Assessment of Aquaculture," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 16(2), pages 254-265, April.
    4. Bohanec, Marko & Messéan, Antoine & Scatasta, Sara & Angevin, Frédérique & Griffiths, Bryan & Krogh, Paul Henning & Žnidaršič, Martin & Džeroski, Sašo, 2008. "A qualitative multi-attribute model for economic and ecological assessment of genetically modified crops," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 215(1), pages 247-261.
    5. Nathan Pelletier, 2018. "Social Sustainability Assessment of Canadian Egg Production Facilities: Methods, Analysis, and Recommendations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-17, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tena Bujas & Marija Koričan & Manuela Vukić & Vladimir Soldo & Nikola Vladimir & Ailong Fan, 2022. "Review of Energy Consumption by the Fish Farming and Processing Industry in Croatia and the Potential for Zero-Emissions Aquaculture," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-26, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Singlitico, Alessandro & Goggins, Jamie & Monaghan, Rory F.D., 2019. "The role of life cycle assessment in the sustainable transition to a decarbonised gas network through green gas production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 16-28.
    2. Alessia Amato & Konstantina Tsigkou & Alessandro Becci & Francesca Beolchini & Nicolò M. Ippolito & Francesco Ferella, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment of Biomethane vs. Fossil Methane Production and Supply," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-18, June.
    3. Pranav Nakhate & Yvonne van der Meer, 2021. "A Systematic Review on Seaweed Functionality: A Sustainable Bio-Based Material," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-26, May.
    4. Georgios Archimidis Tsalidis, 2022. "Type I Social Life Cycle Assessments: Methodological Challenges in the Study of a Plant in the Context of Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-13, November.
    5. Ilkka Leinonen, 2019. "Achieving Environmentally Sustainable Livestock Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-5, January.
    6. Debeljak, Marko & Trajanov, Aneta & Stojanova, Daniela & Leprince, Florence & Džeroski, Sašo, 2012. "Using relational decision trees to model out-crossing rates in a multi-field setting," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 245(C), pages 75-83.
    7. Mariusz Niekurzak, 2021. "Determining the Unit Values of the Allocation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions for the Production of Biofuels in the Life Cycle," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-18, December.
    8. Gaspard Philis & Friederike Ziegler & Lars Christian Gansel & Mona Dverdal Jansen & Erik Olav Gracey & Anne Stene, 2019. "Comparing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Salmonid Aquaculture Production Systems: Status and Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-27, April.
    9. Tong, Huanhuan & Shen, Ye & Zhang, Jingxin & Wang, Chi-Hwa & Ge, Tian Shu & Tong, Yen Wah, 2018. "A comparative life cycle assessment on four waste-to-energy scenarios for food waste generated in eateries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 1143-1157.
    10. Johnson Holt & Adrian W. Leach & Gritta Schrader & Françoise Petter & Alan MacLeod & Dirk Jan van der Gaag & Richard H. A. Baker & John D. Mumford, 2014. "Eliciting and Combining Decision Criteria Using a Limited Palette of Utility Functions and Uncertainty Distributions: Illustrated by Application to Pest Risk Analysis," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(1), pages 4-16, January.
    11. Gaspard Philis & Friederike Ziegler & Mona Dverdal Jansen & Lars Christian Gansel & Sara Hornborg & Grete Hansen Aas & Anne Stene, 2022. "Quantifying environmental impacts of cleaner fish used as sea lice treatments in salmon aquaculture with life cycle assessment," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(6), pages 1992-2005, December.
    12. Sijin Saji & Andrew Hebden & Parikshit Goswami & Chenyu Du, 2022. "A Brief Review on the Development of Alginate Extraction Process and Its Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, April.
    13. Irene Huertas-Valdivia & Anna Maria Ferrari & Davide Settembre-Blundo & Fernando E. García-Muiña, 2020. "Social Life-Cycle Assessment: A Review by Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-25, August.
    14. Wesley Malcorps & Richard W. Newton & Silvia Maiolo & Mahmoud Eltholth & Changbo Zhu & Wenbo Zhang & Saihong Li & Michael Tlusty & David C. Little, 2021. "Global Seafood Trade: Insights in Sustainability Messaging and Claims of the Major Producing and Consuming Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-17, October.
    15. Bingbing Zhao & Yan Fang & Kang Wu & Fayu Zhang & Jiaquan Wang, 2019. "A Method of Large-Scale Resource Utilization of Algae—Eutrophic Waste from Lake Chao, China: Preparation and Performance Optimization of Composite Packaging Materials," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-15, November.
    16. Vance, C. & Sweeney, J. & Murphy, F., 2022. "Space, time, and sustainability: The status and future of life cycle assessment frameworks for novel biorefinery systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    17. Kolb, Sebastian & Plankenbühler, Thomas & Hofmann, Katharina & Bergerson, Joule & Karl, Jürgen, 2021. "Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of renewable gas technologies: A comparative review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    18. Ricardo J. Bonilla-Alicea & Katherine Fu, 2019. "Systematic Map of the Social Impact Assessment Field," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-30, July.
    19. Gegg, Per & Wells, Victoria, 2019. "The development of seaweed-derived fuels in the UK: An analysis of stakeholder issues and public perceptions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    20. Omeje, Julius Emeka & Achike, Anthonia Ifeyinwa & Nwabeze, Godfrey O & Ibiyo, Lenient Mercy O & Jimmy, Samuel Preye, 2023. "Economic Analysis of Locally Produced Aquaculture Feeds with Complements of Plant-based Ingredients in Kainji Lake Basin, Nigeria," Research on World Agricultural Economy, Nan Yang Academy of Sciences Pte Ltd (NASS), vol. 4(1), March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7779-:d:592936. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.