Oceanic production of calcium carbonate is conventionally attributed to marine plankton (coccolithophores and foraminifera). This report finds that marine fish produce precipitated carbonates within their intestines and excrete these at high rates. When combined with estimates of global fish biomass, this suggests that marine fish contribute 3 to 15% of total oceanic carbonate production.

This in-depth report, "Aquaculture Development and Global Carbon Budgets: Emissions, Sequestration and Management Options", examines a suite of diverse mechanisms to promote a reduction in carbon emissions and enhancement of carbon sinks associated with marine and freshwater aquaculture of fish and shell fish.

The Worldwatch Institute has published a report on aquaculture and a short summary of it is available here.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has adopted a policy to increase the value of domestic aquaculture production fivefold by 2025. This report considers how to develop U.S. aquaculture in a more sustainable way, by reviewing work based on manner energy analysis, ecological footprint analysis, and life cycle assessment. It finds that extensive aquaculture systems are amongst the most energy efficient producers of animal protein currently in operation and many forms of intensive aquaculture are amongst the least energy efficient protein producers.

In this study, fish meals/oils from dedicated reduction fisheries were replaced with fisheries by-product meals/oils. This markedly increased the environmental impacts of feed production, largely due to the higher energy intensity of fisheries for human consumption, and low meal/oil yield rates of fisheries by-products.

This article describes various techniques used to assess the energy performance of a selection of aquaculture systems, representing intensities and methodologies which dominate global production. The paper has useful figures and data on global aquaculture production over time and schematic energy flow model for various types of seafood production. Energy performance of extensive and intensive aquaculture systems are analysed and the biophysical efficiency and sustainability of aquaculture systems is discussed.

This study, 'Assessing Alternative Aquaculture Technologies: Life Cycle Assessment of Salmonid Culture Systems in Canada', employed life cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify and compare the potential environmental impacts of culturing salmonids in a conventional marine net-pen system with those of three reportedly environmentally-friendly alternatives; a marine floating bag system; a land-based saltwater flow through system; and a land-based freshwater recirculating system.

This is a methodological paper, 'Impact categories for Life Cycle Assessment research of seafood production: Review and Prospectus', looking at the technicalities of LCA in wild caught fisheries and aquaculture. It finds that the LCA analyses of fisheries and aquaculture call attention to an important range of environmental interactions that are usually not considered in discussions of sustainability in the seafood sector. These include energy use, biotic resource use, and the toxicity of anti-fouling paints.

The focus of this methodological paper, Co-Product Allocation in Life Cycle Assessments of Seafood Production Systems: Review of Problems and Strategies, is the specific allocation problems faced in studying seafood production systems and how they have been addressed to date.