Marine Aquaculture (Mariculture)

Mariculture is aquaculture carried out in seawater, from sheltered net-pen and longline shellfish operations in bays to exposed offshore cages and seaweed farms. It avoids the freshwater demand of inland systems but raises issues specific to the marine environment: nutrient and waste loading on the seabed below pens, escapes interbreeding with wild stocks, sea-lice transfer to wild salmon, and competition for coastal space resolved through marine spatial planning.