Seaweed farming in Europe: Appraisal and quantification of ecosystem services

Seaweed cultivation enhances key ecosystem services including climate mitigation, nutrient remediation and habitat provision. There has been growing interest in further developing and upscaling seaweed cultivation in Europe, however in order to achieve this multiple criteria for environmental sustainability must be met. Further understanding of this will allow for alignment with policy and commercial ‘Payment for Ecosystem Services’ (PES) initiatives which can directly valorize ecosystem services and contribute to the economic sustainability of seaweed production.

This PhD project will use an ecosystem service approach to investigate the climate and biodiversity risk reduction potential of seaweed aquaculture. This will be done by developing analytical techniques to quantify the ecosystem services and magnitude of risk reductions, where possible, across a range of operational farms. This information will help advise mechanisms for valorization and farming operations to maximize benefits, and feed into the policy dialogue across Europe as the industry develops.

Start date: February 2023

Supervisors

Dr Adam Hughes, SAMS

Dr Alasdair O’Dell, SAMS

Prof Michael Burrows, SAMS

Funder

Industry funded

University

University of the Highlands and Islands