Energy direct inputs and greenhouse gas emissions of the main industrial trawl fishery of Brazil

This study provides first-time estimates of direct fuel inputs and greenhouse gas emissions produced by the trawl fishing fleet operating off southeastern and southern Brazil. Analyzed data comprised vessel characteristics, landings, fishing areas and trawling duration of 10,144 fishing operations monitored in Santa Catarina State from 2003 to 2011. Three main fishing strategies were differentiated: ‘shrimp trawling’, ‘slope trawling’ and ‘pair trawling’. Jointly these operations burned over 9.1 million liters of diesel to land 342.3 million kilograms of fish and shellfish. Annually, 0.023–0.031 l were consumed for every kg of catch landed. Because all fishing strategies relied on multispecific catches to raise total incomes, estimates of fuel use intensity were generally low but increased 200–900% if only nominal targets were considered. In nine years, trawling operations emitted 6.69 GgC to the atmosphere, between 2300 and 3300 tons CO2 per year.