Disentangling Global Supply Chains A Systematic Map of Research on the Biodiversity and Social Impacts of European Blue Food Consumption

This Biodiversa+ deliverable presents a systematic map of research on the biodiversity and social impacts of European blue food production-consumption chains, focusing on cod, salmon, sea bass and gilthead sea bream.

The study examines where evidence exists, where it is concentrated, and where important gaps remain across species, geographies, production stages, farming systems, impact types and study designs. It is based on a systematic search of bibliographic databases and grey literature sources, followed by screening and coding of a random 60% subsample of more than 28,000 search results. The map includes 210 relevant studies.

The evidence base is highly uneven. Research is strongly concentrated on Atlantic salmon, major producing regions, ecological impacts and adult fish rearing in offshore pens. Several ecological impact areas are relatively well represented, including benthic communities, wild fish interactions, pathogens, sea lice and organic pollution pathways. By contrast, social impacts, feed production, hatcheries and early life stages, processing and post-harvest activities, mitigation measures and integrated social-ecological research remain much less studied.

The report identifies areas where further synthesis may already be possible, as well as areas where new primary research is still needed. The findings can support future research programming, knowledge synthesis and science-policy discussions on the biodiversity and social implications of blue food systems.