Institute of Polar Sciences (ISP), National Research Council, via Torino, 155 - 30172 Venice-Mestre, Italy; Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), National Research Council, Arsenale - Tesa #104, Castello 2737/F, 30122 Venice, Italy.
Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), National Research Council, Arsenale - Tesa #104, Castello 2737/F, 30122 Venice, Italy.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Sep 1;785:146997. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146997. Epub 2021 Apr 15.
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production industry in the world yet research and guidance demonstrating strategic multi-objective zoning for sector expansion is scarce. Quantifying and mitigating conflicts and impact on sensitive coastal environments through jointly-optimized objectives for aquaculture and biodiversity simultaneously has not been tested yet. We here develop and evaluate six alternative planning scenarios for one of the European Union's highest priority bivalve shellfish aquaculture areas, the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy. We i) develop an aquaculture profitability surface as a function of the distance from main ports, and in parallel build a fine-scale aquaculture suitability distribution surface for important commercial species using multi-criteria analysis; ii) prioritize protected areas for biodiversity while testing how different considerations of human impacts influence priorities; iii) simultaneously plan for aquaculture and biodiversity while minimizing impacts on other maritime activities. We compare results from different scenarios according to how well they capture suitable aquaculture habitats and minimize impacts. We introduce a new evaluation method for scenario comparison in spatial optimization using a nearest-neighbor analysis for spatial pattern similarities. Lastly, we test the "value of information" provided by our investment in developing the fine-scale suitability surface to improve efficiencies. We find that an integrated multi-objective zoning approach, which simultaneously optimizes for biodiversity and aquaculture, supports more efficient planning than traditional sector specific growth strategies. We also discovered that the fine-scale suitability model delivered a 5% more efficient solution than the simple distance function, highlighting the role of proxy cost surfaces and diminished returns from investing in comprehensive habitat suitability analysis in regions without much variation in key parameters. We offer evidence of improved efficiency and practical guidance for integrated planning in Blue Growth agendas. Our analysis can be applied in any context where multiple objectives occur for aquaculture sector growth and biodiversity conservation.
水产养殖是世界上发展最快的食品生产行业，但缺乏研究和指导，无法展示战略性多目标分区以促进该行业的扩张。通过共同优化水产养殖和生物多样性的目标来量化和缓解冲突并减少对敏感沿海环境的影响，尚未得到验证。在这里，我们为意大利艾米利亚-罗马涅地区（欧盟优先考虑的双壳贝类水产养殖区之一）开发和评估了六种替代规划方案。我们：i）开发了一个水产养殖盈利能力曲面，作为距离主要港口的函数，同时使用多标准分析构建了一个重要商业物种的精细水产养殖适宜性分布曲面；ii）在测试不同人类影响考虑因素如何影响优先级的同时，为生物多样性保护划定重点保护区；iii）在最小化对其他海洋活动的影响的同时，同时规划水产养殖和生物多样性。我们根据不同方案在捕捉适宜水产养殖栖息地和最小化影响方面的表现来比较结果。我们引入了一种新的评估方法，用于使用最近邻分析进行空间优化的方案比较，以评估空间模式相似性。最后，我们测试了为改进效率而对精细适宜性曲面进行投资所提供的“信息价值”。我们发现，与传统的部门特定增长战略相比，同时优化生物多样性和水产养殖的综合多目标分区方法可以支持更有效的规划。我们还发现，精细适宜性模型比简单的距离函数提供了 5%更有效的解决方案，这突出了在关键参数变化不大的地区，代理成本曲面的作用以及在全面的栖息地适宜性分析方面投资的回报递减。我们为蓝色增长议程中的综合规划提供了提高效率的证据和实用指导。我们的分析可应用于任何情况下，只要水产养殖部门增长和生物多样性保护存在多个目标。
