Shoals Marine Laboratory and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2012 Feb;1249:84-103. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2012.06443.x. Epub 2012 Feb 9.
Burgeoning global demand for products derived from seaweeds is driving the increased removal of wild coastal seaweed biomass, an emerging low trophic level industry. These products are marketed as organic and "sustainable." Brown macroalgae, such as kelps (Laminariales) and rockweeds (Fucales), are foundational species that form underwater forests and thus support a diverse vertebrate, invertebrate, and algal community-including important commercial species-and deliver organic matter to coastal ecosystems. The measure of sustainability used by the rockweed (Ascophyllum nodosum (L.) LeJolis) industry, maximum sustainable yield, accounts for neither rockweed's role as habitat for 150+ species, including species of commercial or conservation significance, nor its role in coastal and estuarine ecosystems. To determine whether rockweed cutting is "sustainable" will require data on the long-term and ecosystem-wide impacts of cutting rockweed. Once a sustainable level of cutting is determined, strict regulation by resource managers will be required to protect rockweed habitat. Until sustainable levels of cutting and appropriate regulations are identified, commercial-scale rockweed cutting presents a risk to coastal ecosystems and the human communities that depend on those ecosystems.
不断增长的全球对海藻衍生产品的需求推动了野生沿海海藻生物量的大量移除，这是一个新兴的低营养级产业。这些产品被宣传为有机和“可持续的”。褐藻，如海带（Laminariales）和石莼（Fucales），是形成水下森林的基础物种，从而支持多样化的脊椎动物、无脊椎动物和藻类群落，包括重要的商业物种，并为沿海生态系统提供有机物质。石莼（Ascophyllum nodosum (L.) LeJolis）产业所使用的可持续性衡量标准，即最大可持续产量，既没有考虑到石莼作为 150 多种物种（包括具有商业或保护意义的物种）栖息地的作用，也没有考虑到它在沿海和河口生态系统中的作用。要确定石莼切割是否“可持续”，需要有关长期和生态系统范围的石莼切割影响的数据。一旦确定了可持续的切割水平，资源管理者就需要进行严格的监管，以保护石莼的栖息地。在确定可持续的切割水平和适当的法规之前，商业规模的石莼切割对沿海生态系统和依赖这些生态系统的人类社区构成了风险。
