Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons^™

A Global Spatial Analysis Reveals Where Marine Aquaculture Can Benefit Nature And People, Seth J. Theuerkauf, James A. Morris Jr, Tiffany J. Waters, Lisa C. Wickliffe, Heidi K. Alleway

Aquaculture and Fisheries Collection

Aquaculture of bivalve shellfish and seaweed represents a global opportunity to simultaneously advance coastal ecosystem recovery and provide substantive benefits to humanity. To identify marine ecoregions with the greatest potential for development of shellfish and seaweed aquaculture to meet this opportunity, we conducted a global spatial analysis using key environmental (e.g., nutrient pollution status), socioeconomic (e.g., governance quality), and human health factors (e.g., wastewater treatment prevalence). We identify a substantial opportunity for strategic sector development, with the highest opportunity marine ecoregions for shellfish aquaculture centered on Oceania, North America, and portions of Asia, and the highest opportunity for seaweed aquaculture …