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Updated: Dec 20, 2025

Field Collection and Laboratory Maintenance of Canopy-Forming Giant Kelp to Facilitate Restoration
Published on: June 7, 2024
Environmental impact of kelp (Saccharina latissima) aquaculture
Wouter Visch1, Mikhail Kononets2, Per O J Hall2
1Department of Marine Sciences, Tjärnö Marine Laboratory, University of Gothenburg, SE-452 96 Strömstad, Sweden.
Abstract:
The aim of the study was to assess the effect of seaweed cultivation on the coastal environment. We analysed a multitude of environmental parameters using an asymmetrical before after control impact (BACI) design, comparing the seaweed farm (impact) with multiple unaffected locations (controls). The seaweed farm had a significant positive effect on benthic infauna (p<0.05) and was found to attract 17 mobile faunal and 7 other seaweed species, indicating that the farmed crop may provide habitat to mobile faunal species. A light attenuation of approximately 40% at 5m depth was noted at the peak of the seaweed biomass just before harvest. No changes were observed in benthic oxygen flux, dissolved nutrient concentrations, and benthic mobile fauna between farm and control sites. These results show that seaweed aquaculture has limited environmental effects, especially compared to other forms of aquaculture such as fish and bivalve farming.
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