Assessing Brazil’s Marine Aquaculture Potential

With rising human populations and declining wild fish stocks, offshore mariculture can provide an influx of seafood within the global market and assist countries in economic expansion in the coming decades. While Brazil has a large potential for mariculture development, a lack of logistical knowledge and infrastructural precedence exists to practice the cultivation strategy. This study explored the spatial feasibility of mariculture development and create an interactive web-based tool to predict potential locations, yields, and profitability for offshore mariculture of cobia (Rachycentron canadum) in Brazil’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The study shows productivity and profitability vary with temperature across sites within the study region and that market prices, as well as feed costs, alter the predicted profitability.