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      A GIS-based tool for an integrated assessment of spatial planning trade-offs with aquaculture

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          Abstract

          The increasing demand for protein from aquaculture will trigger a global expansion of the sector in coastal and offshore waters. While contributing to food security, potential conflicts with other traditional activities such as fisheries or tourism are inevitable, thus calling for decision-support tools to assess aquaculture planning scenarios in a multi-use context. Here we introduce the AquaSpace tool, one of the first Geographic Information System (GIS)-based planning tools empowering an integrated assessment and mapping of 30 indicators reflecting economic, environmental, inter-sectorial and socio-cultural risks and opportunities for proposed aquaculture systems in a marine environment. A bottom-up process consulting more than 350 stakeholders from 10 countries across southern and northern Europe enabled the direct consideration of stakeholder needs when developing the GIS AddIn. The AquaSpace tool is an open source product and builds in the prospective use of open source datasets at a European scale, hence aiming to improve reproducibility and collaboration in aquaculture science and research. Tool outputs comprise detailed reports and graphics allowing key stakeholders such as planners or licensing authorities to evaluate and communicate alternative planning scenarios and to take more informed decisions. With the help of the German North Sea case study we demonstrate here the tool application at multiple spatial scales with different aquaculture systems and under a range of space-related development constraints. The computation of these aquaculture planning scenarios and the assessment of their trade-offs showed that it is entirely possible to identify aquaculture sites, that correspondent to multifarious potential challenges, for instance by a low conflict potential, a low risk of disease spread, a comparable high economic profit and a low impact on touristic attractions. We believe that a transparent visualisation of risks and opportunities of aquaculture planning scenarios helps an effective Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) process, supports the licensing process and simplifies investments.

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          Highlights

          • The selection of aquaculture sites in a multi-use context requires integrative tools.

          • The new AquaSpace tool allows for a spatially explicit and integrated assessment.

          • Assessment indicators cover economic, environmental and social effects.

          • Tool outputs can facilitate marine spatial planning and trade-off discussions.

          • The GIS AddIn is freely available and builds on open datasets at European scale.

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          Most cited references26

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          Guiding ecological principles for marine spatial planning

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            Modeling benefits from nature: using ecosystem services to inform coastal and marine spatial planning

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              Key elements and steps in the process of developing ecosystem-based marine spatial planning

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Sci Total Environ
                Sci. Total Environ
                The Science of the Total Environment
                Elsevier
                0048-9697
                1879-1026
                15 June 2018
                15 June 2018
                : 627
                : 1644-1655
                Affiliations
                [a ]Thünen Institute (TI), Institute of Sea Fisheries, Palmaille 9, 22767 Hamburg, Germany
                [b ]AZTI, Marine Research Division, Herrera Kaia z/g, 20110 Pasaia, Spain
                [c ]Marine Scotland Science, Marine Laboratory, 375 Victoria Road, Aberdeen AB11 9DB, Scotland, Uk
                [d ]The James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, Scotland, UK
                [e ]IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Department of Global Change Research, Miquel Marquès 21, 07190 Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain
                Author notes
                [* ]Corresponding author. antje.gimpel@ 123456thuenen.de
                Article
                S0048-9697(18)30155-4
                10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.133
                5891820
                29463432
                680a614b-44ec-432e-b536-af6aa01a2591
                © 2018 The Authors

                This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

                History
                : 27 October 2017
                : 10 January 2018
                : 14 January 2018
                Categories
                Article

                General environmental science
                aquaspace tool,decision support,gis addin,msp,scenario evaluation
                General environmental science
                aquaspace tool, decision support, gis addin, msp, scenario evaluation

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