Sustainability of seafood production and consumption: an introduction to the special issue

This paper provides an introduction to the special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production on "The Sustainability of Seafood Production and Consumption". The purpose of the special issue is to bring together a series of papers that will form a nucleus for the growth of an emerging area of scholarship. Overfishing and marine habitat damage have generated a global crisis in the production of seafood. In order to respond to this crisis we need systems for the management of seafood production and consumption that will comprehensively reduce and eventually eliminate wastefulness in both capture fisheries and aquaculture systems. Thirteen papers address these issues, with focuses on: seafood harvesting practices, fish processing, life cycle assessment, eco-efficiency, management of wastes, seafood distribution and consumption, total energy costs, eco-labeling, and the conservation of resources and biodiversity. We conclude that major changes are required in our approaches to the management of both the marine environment and our seafood capture and production systems. We also conclude that steps have been taken in this direction, but there is still far to go. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.