Fig. 1.

Mariculture sited using optimized spatial planning can yield significant levels of seafood production with a small spatial footprint and minimal impacts on the environment or other ocean uses. For example, modeled mariculture in Southern California, farming only a very small total area (50 square kilometers), can produce a quantity of seafood that surpasses all US mariculture production combined and all wild-fishery landings for state waters along California’s approximately 1,350-kilometer coastline. Data from mariculture models for California from ref. 15. Image courtesy of S.E.L.