Advancing a restorative blue Economy: A DPSIR–Ecosystem services framework for sustainable seaweed aquaculture

Seaweed aquaculture is rapidly expanding in Europe and the Americas providing engineered ecosystem services (EES) such as nutrient removal, pH buffering, and carbon uptake. Used as a nature-based emission capture-and-utilisation technology, seaweed transforms emissions into revenue streams while delivering non-profit value, making seaweed aquaculture a promising eco-industrial system that fits well to the global agenda of green economic transitions and ecosystem health restoration. However, aquaculture activities may, in some cases, cause unwanted engineered ecosystem disservices (EED) which should be avoided. We argue that an adaptive and cross-sectoral policy framework is imperative to guide the sustainable development of a blue circular bioeconomy, or phyconomy, from primary production to final products, involving actors across multiple governance levels and sectors. We identify likely EES/EED and their potential impacts on natural ecosystem services using the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES), and we map stakeholder linkages and policy instruments through a snowball approach. Finally, we adapt the Drivers-Pressures-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework to seaweed aquaculture, redefining Pressure as Progress to recognise restorative outcomes. The resulting model connects EES/EED with relevant policies, supporting integrated and regenerative development of the seaweed sector.