Seaweed Farming Benefit and Tradeoffs Mapping Tool
Determine the suitability and economic viability of seaweed farming in different regions.
What does it do?
The tool calculates a relative favorability score for seaweed farming and analyzes areas where seaweed can be farmed while meeting chosen cost thresholds. By combining geospatial data for environmental conditions and economic costs of growing seaweed, practitioners can identify areas that align with priority criteria for seaweed farming.
How does it work?
Determining the suitability for setting up a seaweed farm and the benefits or conflicts that may occur from doing so requires an understanding of the environmental and economic conditions for a given area. This tool assesses the favorability of setting up a seaweed farm by integrating spatial data across four key environmental categories (climate benefits, water quality improvement, conflict avoidance, and future water temperatures). By factoring the costs associated with farming and transporting seaweed as well as potential income, the multi-layered analysis highlights how well areas meet user-define priorities for sustainable seaweed farming.
How can it help you?
With this tool, seaweed farming practitioners, environmental managers, aquaculture operators, and coastal community planners can:
- Identify potential areas for seaweed farming based on specific priorities, whether emphasizing climate benefits, improvement of water quality, conflict avoidance, or future temperature suitability.
- Identify areas where the cost of seaweed farming is most likely to stay within budgetary constraints.
- Make data-driven decisions that align with environmental stewardship goals by assessing relative potential for ecological benefits, conflicts, and economic viability of potential seaweed farming sites.
- Refine strategies for seaweed farming by reapplying the tool as new environmental data becomes available and market conditions evolve.
Resource Downloads
| Files | Description | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seaweed farming spatial prioritization tool overview | Start by reading an overview of the tool and its components | Download | |
| Materials for R | User guides and script for R | zip | Download |
| Materials for ArcGIS | ArcGIS files and user guides | zip | Download |
| SampleData | Sample data as needed | zip | Download |
More information
- EDFish Blog Post: “Can seaweed really help fight global warming? Here’s what we know so far.”
- EDF Seaweed Product Analysis: Process Maps For Seaweed Products With The Potential To Mitigate Climate Change
- Academic publications: