Carrying capacity of Saccharina latissima cultivation in a Dutch coastal bay: a modelling assessment

Kelp cultivation receives increasing interest for its high-value products and ecological services, especially in Europe and North America. Before industrial kelp farming in marine ecosystems continue to scale up, evaluation of the site-wide production relative to ecological carrying capacity (CC) of the identified system is essential. For this purpose, a mechanistic kelp model was developed and applied for hypothetical numerical experiments of expanding the farming area in a Dutch coastal bay (the Eastern Scheldt), where cultivation of Saccharina latissima (sugar kelp) is emerging. The kelp mo... Mehr ...