Following the recent COP26 Climate Change Conference it’s a good time to highlight the role Copper Alloy Mesh can play in CO2 Emissions Reduction for Sustainable Fish Farming.
A 2015 Life Cycle Assessment was conducted and jointly published by EarthShift and the International Copper Association. It compared a range of farm input and environmental output measures, including the CO2 emissions, of a salmon farm employing 20 Copper Alloy Mesh cages and salmon farms that deployed traditional nylon mesh nets in Chile.
Conducted and jointly published by EarthShift and the International Copper Association, the study compared a range of farm input and environmental output measures including the CO2 emissions of a salmon farm employing 20 Copper Alloy Mesh cages and salmon farms that deployed traditional nylon mesh nets in Chile.
A close look at the data from the study reveals the farm employing copper alloy mesh cages had lower CO2 emissions due to the recycled content of the copper alloy mesh, the longer life of copper alloy mesh and reduced cleaning and maintenance requirements. The life cycle impact assessment went further and calculated the CO2 emissions saved on a per metric ton of output as 240kg.
In addition, the study highlighted another potential CO2 emissions benefit from lower feed consumption. The reduction in biofouling that reduced cleaning requirements also helped to improve the growing conditions leading to performance gains in fish health, growth rates and lower feed consumption that reduced CO2 emissions by an additional 220kg/mt.
Results will vary among farm locations and species; however, these results demonstrate the role that Copper Alloy Mesh can play reducing CO2 emissions reduction for sustainable fish farming.
