Scaling-up EU cultivation of shellfish and algae for European Green Deal

Land biomass provides about 60% of the EU’s renewable energy. Scenarios for meeting the EU’s objective of carbon neutrality by 2050 suggest that more will be needed which puts pressure on land resources for other priorities such as growing food and feed and protecting wilderness . Over the world 55% of the mass of global aquaculture production in marine waters is devoted to algae and 33% to shellfish. The European part of this production represents about 3% of the total, half of which for shellfish and half for fish. In that context, macroalgae represent a confidential production in comparison to other species representing about 0.01% of European aquaculture production.  In this context, one question of the European commission is to know how to obtain more food and biomass from the oceans without impacting future generations of their benefits. To answer this questions the study presented here, commissioned by the European Commission (EC) to support the European Green Deal, provides important insight into how increasing  low-trophic level aquaculture could be planned in the future to contribute to the blue economy under the EU’s Green Deal. It is a matter of balance between benefits and drawbacks, using mathematical modelling and optimization based on Copernicus model outputs of oceanic circulation and nutrients over European seas. For three seaweed and three shellfish species, maps of production potential in fresh and dry weight, Kcal and protein equivalent and CO2 and nutrients uptakes are provided. Moreover, maps of the optimal distribution of farms for different target production levels (2 to 10 MTons of fresh weight) and their impact on nutrients are also produced.