Opportunities and trade-offs in managing kelp forest in an era of blue growth

The kelp forests in the northern regions of Norway are recovering after many years of grazing from sea urchins. Kelp forests are important ecosystems for thousands of marine organisms and for society through for instance filtering water and carbon storage. In Norway, there is a great interest in using kelp and other seaweeds for new applications such as food, animal feed and biofuel. The huge coastal areas with reestablished kelp forests do not only contribute to important ecosystem functions, but they also have the potential for commercial exploitation through harvesting. With these new opportunities, it is important to have knowledge that contributes to sustainable management and utilization - to the benefit of various sectors and stakeholders. The research project OPTIMAKELP has contributed with relevant knowledge about societal aspects related to the management and utilization of kelp, with a particular focus on coastal areas in Central and Northern Norway. OPTIMAKELP has produced detailed maps of tangle kelp (Laminaria hyperborea) and sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima) in high-resolution models for the entire Norwegian coast. With this contribution has Norway probably the world's best kelp models with national coverage. The model shows that the density of kelp varies widely along environmental gradients. The highest density is found in shallow areas, where the solar radiation is greatest. Tangle kelp prefers medium wave exposure, while the sugar kelp lives more sheltered. Two scientific articles have been published from the modeling work. Gundersen et al. (2021 – Frontiers in Marine Science) shows the variation in population structure and standing biomass of kelp along environmental gradients, as well as the implication of this for carbon storage and other ecosystem services. Kvile et al. (2022 – Frontiers in Marine Science) shows the distribution of kelp forests in the Nordic region. The publication of the Norwegian high-resolution kelp models (Andersen et al.) is expected published during 2022. The modeling work has been done in synergy with the projects "Nordic Blue Carbon" financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers (#17080044) and "BlueTrans" financed by the NFR (# 280778). Also, a bioeconomic model has been developed to study the dynamics between the harvesting of sugar kelp and the grazing of sea urchins, which is planned to be published in an economic journal (Nævdal et al. in prep.). Another paper exploring the monetary value of ecosystem services from kelp has been published in Ecological Economics in 2021. Estimation of the value of ecosystem services from kelp has had good synergies with the EU project MERCES. Furthermore, the project has dealt with the historical management and use of seaweed and kelp in Norway. The legal regimes for seaweed (cut and extracted on privately owned ground) and kelp (harvested as a national resource) provide important differences for how these resources can be safeguarded and managed for sustainable use. Studies of how kelp resources have been used and managed from a historical perspective have provided input for the global kelp report that will be completed in November 2022 (UNEP 2022). Based on focus group discussions and interviews carried out at Vega in the period 2019-2022, an article is being finalized that addresses the challenges of governing rockweeds sustainably in a context of limited scientific knowledge production (Kvanneid and Sundnes, forthcoming). OPTIMAKELP has also looked at how kelp harvesting is managed in practice, which has given a good overview of the management challenges and conflicts of interest that exist between different actors and levels of management. The work of analyzing the governance of kelp harvesting has resulted in a scientific article comparing the governance regimes in Scotland and Norway (Greenhill et al. 2021). The article argues that knowledge-based and adaptive governance is difficult to carry out in practice and discusses three governance dimensions: stakeholder participation, the integration of scientific and local knowledge and the adaptive capacity of legal instruments, in each case. Based on observation of the last process of revising the kelp regulation in Trøndelag, coupled with management history and interviews with key actors, an article focusing on the specificities of kelp as a governance object is being finalized (Sundnes, in prep.). Also, the sustainability and governance of Norwegian rockweed has been examined (Kvanneid and Sundnes, in prep.). Early in OPTIMAKELP, "The Kelp Experience" - a two-day teaching program for two secondary schools in Vega and Frøya - was carried out and was a successful event. The review of how kelp is managed internationally has formed a chapter coordinated by staff within OPTIMAKELP in the UNEP Global Kelp Report (UNEP 2022). Several of the project members have contributed substantially to the report.

OPTIMAKELP has developed new and adaptive management options for use of recovering kelp forests by providing integrated spatial, socio-economic knowledge and by assessing existing governance regimes. Through the development of a national high-resolution kelp model, the project has placed Norway in world class both in terms of spatial precision and quantitative estimates of spatial coverage, biomass, and carbon storage, at local, regional, and national level. This will have direct implication for decisions taken at the municipality level, but potentially also high-level contributions, such as international reporting of blue carbon accountings. The kelp models have given synergies and spin-offs to several projects, with the aim of quantifying the amount of kelp and its associated ecosystem services in Norway, including the forthcoming UNEP global kelp report (with more than 60 different contributors), and Filbee-Dexter (in prep.) on assessing the value and function of the world’s kelp forests, involving researchers from 12 regions in the world, including Scandinavia, UK, Southern Europe, Southern Africa, Japan and Korea, Australia, New Zealand and sub-Antarctic Islands, Arctic, Northwest Pacific, California and Mexica, south America and Northwest Atlantic. Further, the socio-economic study of the trade-offs between kelp harvesting and other services, gives a foundation for decision-making, also from an economic perspective, which is rarely available for marine ecosystems. Another experience from OPTIMAKELP, is that knowledge-based and adaptive governance is difficult to carry out in practice, and requires strong stakeholder participation, the integration of scientific and local knowledge and the adaptive capacity of legal instruments. A main aim was also to reach out to the young generation about the benefits and joy related to nature, in general, and kelp, more specific. The Kelp Experience, a two-day teaching program for two secondary schools in Vega and Frøya, was carried out and was a successful event.

The kelp forests in the northern regions of Norway are recovering from decades of decline and now can now provide a range of ecosystem services that had previously been compromised. The interest in increased and new usages of kelp is substantial, as macroalgae are being proposed as solutions to several global environmental problems such as climate change and shortage of food, fodder and renewable energy. There are enormous coastal areas (~10 000 km 2) in Northern Norway with potential for kelp regrowth but there is a lack of management relevant knowledge of socio-economic dimensions that is needed to make informed decisions on how to use this resource. OPTIMAKELP will contribute to ecosystem-based management of recovering kelp forests by analyzing kelp distribution, value of ecosystem services, and adaptive management options under climatic and socio-economic change. OPTMIAKELP will also conduct social-impact assessments on increased harvesting and analyze opportunities and barriers for ecosystem-based management within the current governance system, including a comparative analysis with Scotland. OPTIMAKELP focuses on the northern regions of Norway through case studies in Trøndelag, Nordland and Finnmark where kelp exist in different successional stages. These three case studies not only represent variations in ecosystems, but also diverse communities where stakeholders may value ecosystem services differently. Stakeholder preference is a key aspect in designing effective management models, especially when there are potential trade-offs among different economic sectors and interests. We will use an adaptive co-management framework that incorporates change and integrates climate change as a key element. OPTIMAKELP relies on strong integration of natural and social sciences as well as humanities.