# Fishmeal & shrimp: Emissions

The surprisingly wide carbon range of farmed shrimp

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/emissions/

What this tab covers The greenhouse-gas footprint of the commodity at a global level, split by lifecycle phase: extraction (or farming), refining and processing, movement, usage, and recycling or end of life. Intensities are per unit of product; the global total combines intensity with world output. Also covers other environmental impacts and the main levers to cut emissions. Emission intensity 13.5 t CO2e per t range 2-99; typical values at the low end · average of published shrimp LCAs, edible weight Global emissions per year 52.0 Mt CO2e per year about 2020 · published global total for farmed shrimp

Per t of farmed shrimp, edible weight; cradle-to-retail. Intensity: Moberg et al. 2022, WWF Markets Institute GHG brief on shrimp. Global total: Moberg et al. 2022, WWF Markets Institute.

#### Share of footprint by lifecycle phase
 Extraction 80% Refining / processing 10% Movement 6% Usage 4%

#### Footprint by lifecycle phase

| Phase | Intensity | Share | Main sources of emissions | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Extraction** | feed 2.1-4.7, on-farm energy 0.5-6.5, pond CH4 and N2O about 1.6, land-use change about 0.4 t CO2e/t on average | 80% | feed (fishmeal, soy, grains), electric and diesel aerators and pumps, pond methane, mangrove clearing | Feed can exceed 60% of farm emissions in intensive ponds. Ponds cut from mangroves can carry 9-184 t CO2e/t of live shrimp over 20 years. Peruvian anchovy fishmeal itself is among the lowest-carbon animal proteins. | Moberg et al. 2022 (WWF); share is an indicative split of the 13.5 average; SeafoodSource, May 2024 (Vazquez-Rowe) |
| **Refining / processing** | part of 2-3 t CO2e/t post-farm total; rarely measured separately | 10% | peeling, freezing, cold storage, packaging (plastic about 0.14 t CO2e/t) | Fishmeal plants that moved from heavy fuel oil to natural gas cut processing footprint 10-18%. | Moberg et al. 2022 (WWF); SeafoodSource, May 2024 |
| **Movement** | 0.2-1.4 t CO2e/t | 6% | reefer containers; air freight for fresh salmon | For Peruvian fishmeal, sea freight to China, Europe and the Americas is 20-30% of its total footprint. Air-freighted fresh fish is several times worse than sea freight. | Moberg et al. 2022 (WWF); SeafoodSource, May 2024 |
| **Usage** | within the post-farm 2-3 t CO2e/t | 4% | retail freezers, home cooking, food waste | Cooking emissions are small. Wasted shrimp wastes all upstream emissions. | Moberg et al. 2022 (WWF), indicative |
| **Recycling / end of life** | not applicable as recycling | – | heads, shells and trimmings | By-products are reduced into fishmeal, fish oil and chitin, which lowers the burden on wild fish. Peeling waste dumped untreated adds methane. | FAO SOFIA 2024 |

#### Other environmental impacts

Mangrove loss for shrimp ponds, pond effluent and disease, sea lice and escapes at salmon farms. FAO reports just over a third of assessed marine stocks are overfished. Per kg, Poore & Nemecek put farmed prawns at about 26.9 kg CO2e and Clark et al. 2022 at 20.9, so estimates vary widely.

#### Levers to cut emissions

- Better feed conversion: cutting whiteleg shrimp FCR by 0.1 would avoid about 1.8 Mt CO2e a year (Chatvijitkul et al. 2017, via WWF 2022)
- No new ponds on mangroves; mangrove protection costs about $10-100 per t CO2e (Griscom et al. 2017, via WWF 2022)
- Conversion-free soy in feed cuts about 1.1-1.9 t CO2e per t of shrimp (WWF 2022)
- Solar power and efficient aerators for intensive farms above 4 t CO2e/t (WWF 2022)
- If all shrimp matched a 4.3 t CO2e/t benchmark, sector emissions would fall from 52 to 17 Mt a year (WWF 2022)

#### India

India's intensive vannamei ponds in Andhra Pradesh run aerators on a grid that emitted about 0.7 t CO2 per MWh (CEA, indicative), so on-farm energy weighs more than in hydro-powered Ecuador. Exports of 0.74 Mt of frozen shrimp in FY2025 imply roughly 10 Mt CO2e at the WWF average (derived, indicative).
 Emission figures are indicative global averages from the life-cycle studies named; actual footprints vary widely by site, energy mix and method.

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/characteristics/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/seafood/links/index.md)