MARINE AND FISHERY SCIENCES 35 (2): 223-235 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.47193/mafis.3522022010505 223
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Greenhouse gas emissions, consumption and fuel use intensity by an
artisanal double-rig trawl fleet in southern Brazil
DAGOBERTO PORT1, FERNANDO NIEMEYER FIEDLER*2, FABIANE FISCH1, JOAQUIM OLINTO BRANCO1
1School of the Sea, Science and Technology, Universidade do Vale do Itajaí (Univali), Brazil. 2Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação da
Biodiversidade Marinha do Sudeste e Sul – CEPSUL, Brazil. ORCID Dagoberto Port http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3909-7957, Fernando Niemeyer
Fiedler https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5706-1937, Fabiane Fisch http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9011-7020, Joaquim Olinto Branco http://orcid.org/
0000-0002-3521-1671
ABSTRACT. In Brazil, most national marine production is captured by artisanal
fisheries. The present study was conducted in a traditional trawl fishing area for the
capture of the Atlantic seabob shrimp Xiphopenaeus kroyeri in southern Brazil
between 1996 and 2015 to obtain initial estimates of direct fuel inputs and
greenhouse gas emissions. Data include vessel characteristics, total and seabob
shrimp production, and trawl duration. Approximately, four million liters of fuel
were consumed for an estimated catch of around 148,000 kg of fish (26.4 l kg-1), of
which 19,000 kg were seabob shrimp (206 l kg-1) or 13% of total production. The
carbon emitted by this fleet was almost three million gigagrams (GgC), between 401
and 666 t per year. Although the number of vessels has increased over the years,
catches, especially of seabob shrimp, have declined sharply, indicating over-
exploitation of this resource and reinforcing the urgent need to create management
programs and selective technologies for this modality.
Keywords: Artisanal trawl fishery, shrimp, energy efficiency, greenhouse gases,
fuel use intensity, carbon balance
Emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero, consumo e intensidad de uso de
combustibles por una flota de arrastre artesanal de doble aparejo en el sur de
Brasil
RESUMEN. En Brasil, la mayor parte de la producción marina nacional es
capturada por la pesca artesanal. El presente estudio se realizó en un área de pesca
de arrastre tradicional para la captura del camarón siete barbas del Atlántico
Xiphopenaeus kroyeri en el sur de Brasil entre 1996 y 2015 para obtener
estimaciones iniciales de las entradas directas de combustible y las emisiones de
gases de efecto invernadero. Los datos incluyen las características de las
embarcaciones, la producción total y de camarones siete barbas y la duración de los
arrastres. Se consumieron aproximadamente cuatro millones de litros de combustible
para una captura estimada de alrededor de 148.000 kg de pescado (26,4 l kg-1
capturados), de los cuales 19.000 kg fueron camarones siete barbas (206 l kg-1
capturados) o el 13% de la producción total. El carbono emitido por esta flota fue de
casi tres millones de gigagramos (GgC), entre 401 y 666 t anuales. Si bien el número
de embarcaciones ha aumentado a lo largo de los años, las capturas, especialmente
de camarón siete barbas, han disminuido drásticamente, lo que indica una
sobreexplotación de este recurso y refuerza la necesidad urgente de crear programas
de manejo y tecnologías selectivas para esta modalidad.
Palabras clave: Pesca artesanal de arrastre, camarón, eficiencia energética, gases de
efecto invernadero, intensidad de uso de combustibles, balance de carbono
*Correspondence:
fnfiedler@hotmail.com
Received: 10 February 2022
Accepted: 3 March 2022
ISSN 2683-7595 (print)
ISSN 2683-7951 (online)
https://ojs.inidep.edu.ar
Journal of the Instituto Nacional de
Investigación y Desarrollo Pesquero
(INIDEP)
This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-
NonComercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International License
224 MARINE AND FISHERY SCIENCES 35 (2): 223-235 (2022)
INTRODUCTION
According to estimates, approximately 60
million people are involved in fishing and
aquaculture and around 65% depend directly on
fishing for their livelihood (FAO 2020). The
capture, processing, and sale of fish from
artisanal fisheries play a key role in providing
food to the world's population (Salas et al. 2018).
In Brazil, around one million people are directly
involved in fishing. Specifically, artisanal fishing
historically accounts for a large part of national
marine production, thus reinforcing the economic
and social importance of this modality (Abdallah
and Bacha 1999; Zamboni 2020). However,
information related to the fishery tends to be
unreliable and fishers rarely participate in its
management, which causes a series of problems
such as their gradual loss of political and
economic representativeness (Salas et al. 2007;
Medeiros et al. 2014; Dias Neto and Oliveira Dias
2015; Oliveira Leis et al. 2018).
Since this fishery involves a wide variety of
environments and species, its impacts are a
growing cause for concern, especially in terms of
stock reduction (Garcia and Graiger 2005),
changes in ecosystem structure and functioning
(Pauly et al. 1998, 2005; Kelleher 2008), changes
in the ocean floor (Kaiser et al. 2006; Kaiser
2019), mortality of endangered species (Sales et
al. 2010; Fiedler et al. 2012, 2017, 2020),
consumption of fossil fuels in navigation and
fishing operations (Tyedmers 2004; Tyedmers et
al. 2005; Suuronen et al. 2012), and greenhouse
gas emissions (Ziegler and Hansson 2003; Fulton
2010; Port et al. 2016). In the last two decades
alone, the impact of the two latter factors has
served to assess the sustainability of fishing
(Tyedmers 2004; Tyedmers and Parker 2012; Jha
and Edwin 2019), especially large-scale fisheries
in developed countries given the scarcity of data
on small-scale or artisanal fisheries in developing
countries (Parker et al. 2018).
For 2000, Tyedmers et al. (2005) estimated
that fisheries landed approximately 80 million
tons of fish, consumed 50 billion liters of oil,
which is 1.2% of all oil used worldwide, and
released around 130 million tons of CO2 into the
atmosphere. According to Parker et al. (2018),
however, fisheries consumed an estimated 40
billion liters and emitted 179 million tons of CO2.
Because the energy for human assimilation by the
consumption of this total captured is 1/12 of the
energy required for the capture, the efficiency of
this activity is generally low. Notably, however,
different fishing modalities have different energy
performances, that is, they require different levels
of fuel consumption for their catch efficiency
(Tyedmers 2004; Crowder et al. 2008). In this
regard, passive methods (e.g., longline, trap, and
gillnet) tend to require less energy than active
methods (e.g., trawl, seine net) (Tyedmers et al.
2005; FAO 2007; Schau et al. 2009; Winther et
al. 2009).
Demersal and benthic species for
consumption are captured worldwide by trawl
fisheries (Thurstan et al. 2010). Among other
factors, the energy efficiency of this modality is
generally deficient mainly due to variable capture
patterns, large engine power, and high fuel
consumption (Wileman 1984; Tyedmers 2004).
In the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil,
approximately 20 thousand people in 36 coastal
municipalities are directly involved in artisanal
fishing (PCSPA-SC 2015). In these
municipalities, artisanal fishing accounted for
43% of the total landing volume in the state
between 2017 and 2019 (PMAP/SC 2020).
Moreover, the municipality of Penha is the fifth
largest artisanal producer in the state. The fleet of
Penha mostly consists of open vessels with an
inboard engine and without pilothouse. The most
widely used fishing gear are gillnets (fixed and
drift net) and double-trawl nets, mainly used to
catch codling Urophycis spp, anchovy
Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus 1766), catfish
Genidens spp, croaker Micropogonias furnieri
(Desmarest 1823), weakfish Cynoscion spp,
mullet Mugil liza (Valenciennes 1836), and
shrimp (PMAP/SC 2020). Of the shrimp, the
most frequently captured species is the Atlantic
seabob Xiphopenaeus kroyeri (Heller, 1862) with
an estimated 177.3 t year-1 (Branco and Verani
2006).
Although artisanal fishing in the municipality
has been widely studied (Almeida and Branco
2002; Bail and Branco 2003, 2007; Branco and
Fracasso 2004; Branco 2005; Branco and Verani
2006; Branco et al. 2013; Coelho et al. 2016;
Acauan et al. 2018a, b; Barrili et al. 2021), little
is known about the energy efficiency of shrimp
trawling and its real impacts on the marine
environment. The present study evaluated for the
first time the relationship between fuel
consumption and total catches of artisanal trawl
fishing, between 1996 and 2015 in a community
PORT, FIEDLER, FISCH, BRANCO: GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM ARTISANAL FISHERY IN BRAZIL 225
of Armação do Itapocoroy, municipality of
Penha, north-central coast of Santa Catarina,
Brazil, to support ecosystem management for this
activity.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study area
The study area is located in the municipality
of Penha (26° 46'S/48° 38'W), north-central coast
of the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil (Figure 1).
Penha has an estimated population of 30,262
inhabitants and its main activities are tourism,
mariculture, and fishing (Branco 2005; IBGE
2017).
Artisanal trawl fishing
In Armação do Itapocoroy beach, 115
artisanal vessels navigate an area of
approximately 168 km2 and mainly target the
Atlantic seabob shrimp Xiphopenaeus kroyeri
(Acauan et al. 2018a). In the present study, trawls
were carried out monthly between 1996 and
2015, in the three fishing areas traditionally used
by the local fishing community (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Location of the municipality of Penha - SC, Brazil, and the three main fishing areas of the seabob shrimp
Xiphopenaeus kroyeri by the artisanal trawl fleet of the community of Armação do Itapocoroy.
The same methodology was used throughout
the study period. Moreover, the same double-rig
trawler was used and leased from a local fisher,
who also drove the vessel in all the trawls.
Two identical nets were used, with 3.0 cm
mesh on the wings and 2.0 cm on the body and
cod end. The speed of all the trawls was 2.0 knots.
For each sampling, three trawls were performed
for one hour each.
Every catch was selected by the fisher on the
deck of the vessel based on their knowledge and
daily practice. Species were classified into the
226 MARINE AND FISHERY SCIENCES 35 (2): 223-235 (2022)
following two initial categories: a) nominal catch,
which refers to the set of species retained for sale,
mainly the seabob shrimp, and b) discarded catch,
which are the species returned to the sea because
they are not sold or because they are sold but their
size is below the minimum allowed size for sale.
The nominal catch was separated into the
following two categories: a) target species, that is,
those that have economic importance, and b)
incidental species, which are not feasible for
fisheries but can be used for consumption and/or
sold in the local market. The total sample catch
(nominal catch + discarded catch) was separated
in clearly identified refrigerated boxes. At the
laboratory, these samples were selected, and the
specimens were subsequently counted, weighed,
subjected to biometric recognition, and identified
to the lowest possible taxonomic level using
specialized literature (Menezes et al. 2003; and
references contained therein).
The information was entered into an excel
spreadsheet after cross-validation, whereby one
researcher reviews the information entered by
another.
Fishery activity information
Since socio-economic data of the trawler fleet
in the municipality were not systematically
collected, engine power (Hp) data were initially
obtained through a literature review of
publications in scientific journals, unpublished
data, and gray literature (theses and
dissertations). Subsequently, detailed informa-
tion collected by the Empresa de Pesquisa
Agropecuária e Extensão Rural de Santa
Catarina – EPAGRI (Company of Agriculture,
Research, and Rural Extension of Santa Catarina)
for 2011 (Everton Della Giustina and Daniela M.
G. Nunes, unpublished data) revealed the low
variation in engine power values over the years.
Thus, an extrapolation was carried out propor-
tionally for the other years, considering the total
number of vessels operating each year (Table 1).
Data transformation
Total fuel consumption during fishing
operations was estimated through the relationship
between total trawling hours and total vessel
engine power (Brazil 2011) using the following
formula:
FCei = THei x FHP x HPe
where FCei is the amount of oil, in liters,
consumed by the e-eth trawl during the i-eth
fishing trip; THei is the time, in hours, the e-eth
vessel spent trawling during the i-eth trip; FHP is
the amount of oil, in liters, consumed per hour
and per vessel engine horsepower (standard value
at 0.0963 l/Hp); and HPe is the power of the e-eth
engine expressed in Hp.
The intensity of fuel use for each fishing trip
FUIi was expressed by the following formula:
FUIi = FCei / LCi
where LCi is the nominal catch of the i-eth trip, in
kg.
For the present study, the “carbon balance”
was considered as the ratio between the amount
of carbon removed from the marine environment
vs the carbon emitted into the atmosphere from
the consumption of diesel oil during fishing
operations. Therefore, total catch and seabob
shrimp catch separately for each trip (kg) were
transformed into carbon units (Ci) using the
following equation:
Ci = (LCi x CR) / 1,000,000
where CR refers to the biomass/carbon
conversion rate, considered 9:1 (Pauly and
Christensen 1995; Ziegler 2006; Ziegler and
Valentinsson 2008; Fulton 2010; Port 2015; Port
et al. 2016).
The fuel consumed on each fishing trip was
converted into "standard energy units", defined as
tEP, by which 1 toe = 45.2 x 10-3 TJ (TJ = 1,012
J) (Brasil 1999). The following equation
described by Álvares Júnior and Linke (2002),
Macêdo (2004) and Pinto and Santos (2004) was
used:
ECei = FCei x Fconv x 45.2 x 10-3 x Fcorr
where ECei is the energy dissipated by the e-eth
vessel during the i-eth fishing trip, expressed in TJ;
Fconv is the factor used to convert a certain
amount of fuel into tEP, considering the “high
heat value” (HHV) of the fuel, surveyed annually
by the National Energy Balance of the Brazilian
Ministry of Mines and Energy (EPE 2011). The
value used of nautical diesel oil for 2010 was
determined, namely 0.848 tEP m-3. In contrast,
Fcorr is the factor used to correct Fconv from
HHV to “low heat value” (LHV). This conversion
was required to ensure energy contents estimated
PORT, FIEDLER, FISCH, BRANCO: GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM ARTISANAL FISHERY IN BRAZIL 227
by the National Energy Balance were comparable
to those recommended by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Fcorr for solid
and liquid fuels was set at 0.95 (Brazil, 2006).
The amount of carbon emitted by oil consumption
during the fishing trip was calculated using the
following equation described by Álvares Júnior
and Linke (2002), Macêdo (2004), and Pinto and
Santos (2004):
CEei = ECei x Femiss x 10-3
where CEei refers to the carbon, expressed in
Gigagrams (GgC = 1,000 t carbon), emitted by
the e-eth vessel during an i-eth fishing trip; Femiss
is the carbon emission factor, expressed in ton of
carbon (tC), per TJ. For diesel oil, this value
corresponds to 20.2 tC/TJ (IPCC 1996; Brasil
2006). The 10-3 multiplication was performed to
express the value in GgC. The carbon balance for
each fishing trip was expressed as a ratio CEei/Ci.
Finally, GgC values were converted to tons of
carbon dioxide (CO2), using the following
equation described by Macêdo (2004):
ECO2 = (CEei x 44/12) x 1000
Table 1. Source of engine power (Hp) data available for each year for the artisanal fleet of double-rig trawlers of
Armação do Itapocoroy, municipality of Penha - SC, Brazil. Data from 2011 (EPAGRI, unpublished data) used
for extrapolation and calculations of fuel consumption and intensity of use and carbon emission. (-) period
without information.
Year
Engine Power
(Hp)
Source
min
max
1996
15
45
Branco (2001); Branco and Fracasso (2004)
1997
15
45
Branco (2001); Branco and Fracasso (2004)
1998
16
40
Fracasso (2002); Branco and Fracasso (2004)
1999
16
40
Fracasso (2002); Branco and Fracasso (2004); Campos (2004)
2000
16
40
Fracasso (2002); Branco and Fracasso (2004); Campos (2004)
2001
16
40
Fracasso (2002); Branco and Fracasso (2004); Campos (2004)
2002
16
40
Branco and Fracasso (2004); Bail and Branco (2007)
2003
10
24
Bail and Branco (2007)
2004
-
-
-
2005
-
-
-
2006
-
-
-
2007
-
-
-
2008
-
-
-
2009
-
-
-
2010
10
36
Santos (2011)
2011
10
60
EPAGRI (2011); Santos (2011)
2012
-
-
-
2013
-
-
-
2014
17,44
24,25
PCSPA/UNIVALI (2015)
2015
17,44
24,25
PCSPA/UNIVALI (2015)
228 MARINE AND FISHERY SCIENCES 35 (2): 223-235 (2022)
Data analysis
Since the main purpose of this study was to
obtain the aggregate estimates of fuel consump-
tion and intensity of use, carbon emissions, and
carbon energy balance for trawl fisheries in
Itapocoroy, the transformed variables were
grouped by year and for the entire study period.
RESULTS
During the study period (1996-2015), an annual
average of 78 vessels were operating in the shrimp
trawl fishery, with a minimum of 59 (2001) and a
maximum of 96 (2015). The average power of
vessel engines was 21 Hp (min = 10; max = 60
Hp). They operated 240 each year, with six trawls
a day of one hour each. From 2004, the number of
shrimp trawlers gradually increased (Figure 2).
Regarding biomass, the total catch estimate
for the study period was 148,082 kg of fish (min
= 2,906.5 kg in 2009; max = 12,528.2 kg in 1999).
For the seabob shrimp, the total catch estimate
was 19,002 kg (min = 45 kg in 2015; max =
3,418.2 kg in 2010), representing an average of
12.8% of the total catch (min = 1.0% in 2014;
max = 35.5% in 2010) (Table 2). Although the
number of vessels gradually increased from 2004,
total and seabob shrimp catches did not increase
(Figure 2).
Total catches peaked in 1999 (12,528.21 kg),
followed by a gradual decline until 2009
(2,906.47 kg). Subsequently, in 2010 catches
recovered with 9,626.72 kg landed, followed by
another drop in catches. In contrast, seabob
shrimp catches remained relatively stable from
1998, reaching a maximum in 2010 (3,418.18
kg), followed by a sharp decline, until reaching a
negligible 44.97 kg in 2015 (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Number of vessels (gray bars), total catch (blue line), and seabob shrimp Xiphopenaeus kroyeri catches
(orange line) by the artisanal trawl fleet of the community of Armação do Itapocoroy, municipality of Penha -
SC, Brazil, from 1996 to 2015.
The approximate total fuel consumption was
3,909,000 l (min = 149,000 l in 2001; max =
247,000 l in 2015). As for intensity of fuel use,
approximately 3,909,000 l of fuel (average =
26.4 l kg-1 catch) was used for the estimated total
of 148,082 kg fish landed (Table 2).
Considering only the seabob shrimp, around
19,002 kg were landed with this same amount
of fuel, averaging 206 l consumed for each kg
of shrimp caught.
Regarding the amount of carbon emitted by
this fleet over the years, the total was 2,875.22
GgC (min = 109.4 in 2001; max = 181.7 in 2015)
(Table 2). For the carbon balance, the estimated
total capture was 174,747.54 GgC (min =
95,883.68 in 1999; max = 476,445.3 in 2009). For
the seabob shrimp alone, the total was
1,361,805.43 GgC (min = 419,763.45 in 2010;
max = 36,354,339.35 in 2015) (Table 2). Finally,
estimated total CO2 emissions was 10,542.46 t,
with a minimum of 401.03 t for 2001 and a
maximum of 666.13 t for 2015 (Table 2).
PORT, FIEDLER, FISCH, BRANCO: GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM ARTISANAL FISHERY IN BRAZIL 229
DISCUSSION
Although fisheries play an important role in
supplying animal protein to the world's
population, the relationship between total
expenditure and income obtained during a fishing
trip is often negative in some modalities.
Moreover, accurate information on these
operations required assessing negative impacts on
the ecosystem beyond target species and by-
catch, e.g., is not readily available for all fishing
activities. In this regard, Branco and Fracasso
(2004) identified 28 different species of
crustaceans in the seabob shrimp fishery, mostly
comprising immature individuals, which causes a
negative impact on the benthic ecosystem and,
consequently, on the activity as a whole.
Moreover, socioeconomic data is often col-
lected for specific periods and, in most cases,
only to characterize the fishing activity in
particular, even in long-term projects. The data
collected with such a specific methodology fails
to reflect the actual, real-life events of fisheries,
which involve high dynamism due to the constant
inclusion of new equipment (including engines)
and/or ways of operation. Since socioeconomic
data, such as number of operating vessels, were
not collected annually for the present study,
calculations were based on the best available data
set for the other years, provided by EPAGRI.
In general, only a slight variation in the total
number of vessels operating in Armação do
Itapocoroy was observed between 1996 and 2004.
This number increased from 2004, probably due
to government incentives for fishing fleets. More
vessels, however, did not lead to an increase in
total catches and seabob shrimp catches annually,
as the largest catch occurred in 1999 (12,528.21 t
of fish) with 74 trawlers. After 2004, when the
number of vessels increased gradually, total
catches did not exceed 9,626.72 t (2010), with an
effort of 86 vessels. Port (2015) observed a
similar trend for the industrial trawl fleet that
lands in Santa Catarina, Brazil, and reported an
increase in seabob shrimp landings from 2003
and a peak in landings in 2010, followed by a
trend of declining catches which may be related
to the over-exploitation of resources.
According to Tyedmers (2004), temporal vari-
ations in some elements, such as decreasing
relative abundance of stocks and increasing size
and power of vessel engines, directly contribute
to changes in energy performance over time. In
terms of industrial fishing, evidence shows that
the impact of trawling on benthic ecosystems in
southeastern and southern Brazil is directly
related to overfishing, that is, catches above the
maximum sustainable levels (Haimovici et al.
2006; Perez et al. 2009). According to Ostrom et
al. (2007), however, over-exploitation and misuse
of ecological systems are rarely attributed to a
single cause and the use of simplistic and
generalist solutions often increases problems
rather than solve them. For Grafton et al. (2008)
and Squires (2009), major challenges to this issue
go beyond overfishing and include environ-
mental, ecological, and biodiversity factors. In
this respect, fisheries must consider management
from the ecosystem standpoint since fishing
affects trophic levels that are unrelated to the
commonly targeted species (Pauly et al. 1998),
such as those considered vulnerable, with low
reproductive success rate, slow growth, and long-
life cycle (Hall et al. 2000).
Results presented here were obtained from
estimated total consumption and intensity of fuel
use, amount of carbon emitted, carbon balance,
and CO2 emission. However, the calculated
values may have been underestimated, given the
difficulty in obtaining accurate estimates of fuel
consumption for each of the fishing trips. In this
regard, only the burning of fuel during the fishing
operation was calculated, without considering
navigation time from the port to fishing areas.
According to Bail and Branco (2007), the
navigation time ranges from 20 min to 1 h 30 min,
which would certainly increase the consumption
and emission values. This difficulty is also
observed when assessing industrial fleets (Port et
al. 2016), since, according to Notti et al. (2012),
fuel consumption in this modality can be three
times higher during the trawling operation than
during navigation between ports and fishing
areas.
During the study period (1996-2015), the
artisanal fleet of Armação do Itapocoroy
consisting of around 78 vessels per year with
engine power between 10 and 60 Hp landed
148,082 t of fish, of which 19,002 ts were seabob
shrimp. These total landed biomass values
account for 0.019% of the annual average landed
PORT, FIEDLER, FISCH, BRANCO: GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM ARTISANAL FISHERY IN BRAZIL 231
by industrial trawling in Santa Catarina, which
operated from 2003 to 2011 with an average of
358 vessels per year with engine power between
107 and 750 Hp (Port et al. 2016). In the same
period, this artisanal fleet consumed 3,908,958.90 l
of fuel, representing 1.24 % of the annual average
of the entire industrial trawl fleet of Santa
Catarina between 2003 and 2011 (Port et al.
2016). Although this percentage seems small
when compared to the industrial fleet, it should be
stressed that artisanal trawl fishing communities
were scattered throughout the state of Santa
Catarina resulting in very high fuel consumption
values.
The energy efficiency of the artisanal fleet of
Armação do Itapocoroy proved to be very low. In
the study period, approximately 26.4 l of fuel
were consumed per kilogram of fish landed.
Considering only the target species
Xiphopenaeus kroyeri, the resulting energy
efficiency is 205.71 l t-1 of landed shrimp. In
contrast, the Santa Catarina industrial trawl fleet
proved much more efficient, with 413 l of fuel per
ton of fish landed (Port et al. 2016). Furthermore,
the low energy efficiency calculated in this study
is striking when compared with the efficiency
recorded in Sweden by Ziegler and Hansson
(2003) and Tyedmers (2004), totaling 1,410 l t-1;
on a global average and in European fisheries
recorded by Degnbol (2009), ranging from 640
and 4,710 l t-1 of fish landed; in Japan by Furuya
et al. (2011), ranging from 280 to 1,500 l t-1; and
a worldwide average recorded by Tyedmers et al.
(2005), totaling 620 l of fuel per ton of fish
landed.
The energy efficiency of the trawl fleet is
generally deficient, because of the behavior of the
variability patterns of stock captures (aggrega-
tions and distances to fishing areas) and the
significant drag force produced during fishing
operations, which require a great power of engine
and high fuel consumption (Wileman 1984;
Tyedmers 2004). For the Armação do Itapocoroy
fleet, as well as for several others throughout the
country, the trawling activity has only remained
economically viable due to the existence of a
constant incentive from the government through
a fuel subsidy policy consisting of total tax
exemption for the acquisition of oil. Furthermore,
the economic sustainability of this fishery is
strongly related to the sale of the various species
of fish caught.
Fuel consumption of the artisanal trawl fleet
resulted in average annual carbon emission of
0.144 GgC and 527.123 t CO2 into the atmo-
sphere. These figures represent 1.25 % of the
average annual values of carbon and CO2
emissions of the industrial trawl fleet of Santa
Catarina (Port et al. 2016). As mentioned earlier,
the number of fishing communities scattered
throughout the state should be acknowledged.
Average per year carbon emissions from the
artisanal fleet were 174,750 GgC for each GgC of
total biomass landed; moreover, a great imbal-
ance was observed between the amount of carbon
emitted and removed resulting from total catches,
indicating that the energy efficiency of this
modality is poor due to high fuel consumption,
among other factors (Wileman 1984; Tyedmers
2004). According to Azevedo et al. (2014), fuel
consumption can amount to between 61.1 % and
74.9 % of the operating costs of the seabob
shrimp fishing fleet, which reinforces the impor-
tance of carrying out specific and detailed studies
on the behavior of this input.
Variables included in the list of impacts
caused by this fishing activity can support more
assertive decision-making for fisheries manage-
ment and help define public management policies
that consider economic, social, and environ-
mental impacts.
Although artisanal fishing fleets, in particular
trawling, consist of small vessels, their negative
environmental impacts should not be overlooked,
either due to the removal of considerable volumes
of biomass, which in the case of trawling is
aggravated by the lack of selective gear, or due to
the emission of carbon and other greenhouse
gases.
Therefore, fisheries must also be characterized
according to fuel consumption and their
relationship with the landed biomass to
understand the real negative impacts beyond the
catch of target or incidental species, among other
factors. This characterization would support the
creation of public policies for fisheries
management and species conservation, both to
maintain stocks and to minimize/neutralize
emissions resulting from the use of fossil fuels.
Finally, the negative balance between carbon
emission and removal reinforces the urgent need
to develop selective technologies for trawl fishing
gear. This measure would enhance the economic
feasibility of the activity through the cost-yield
232 MARINE AND FISHERY SCIENCES 35 (2): 223-235 (2022)
ratio and would effectively reduce the capture of
non-target species that play a fundamental eco-
logical role in the balance of ecosystems.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank the trawl fishermen for
their invaluable contribution and knowledge on
fisheries. We are also grateful to Everton Della
Giustina and Daniela M. G. Nunes (EPAGRI -
Agricultural Research and Rural Extension
Company of Santa Catarina) for providing us
with some important data. J.O. Branco thanks the
National Council for Scientific and Techno-
logical Development (CNPq) for the productivity
grant and the University of Vale do Itajaí
(Univali) for their support. D. Port thanks the
Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improve-
ment (CAPES) for granting the Postdoctoral
fellowship.
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