State of knowledge regarding the potential of macroalgae cultivation in providing climate-related and other ecosystem services: a report of the Eklipse Expert Working Group on Macroalgae cultivation and Ecosystem Services

Macroalgae (or seaweed) aquaculture can potentially provide many ecosystem services, including climate change mitigation, coastal protection, preservation of biodiversity and improvement of water quality. Nevertheless, there are still many constraints and knowledge gaps that need to be overcome, as well as potential negative impacts or scale-dependent effects that need to be considered, before macroalgae cultivation in Europe can be scaled up successfully and sustainably. To investigate these uncertainties, the Expert Working Group (EWG) on Macroalgae was established. Its role was to determine the state of knowledge regarding the potential of macroalgae culture in providing climate-related and other ecosystem services (ES) and to identify specific knowledge gaps that must be addressed before harvesting this potential.