Thank you for this useful work, which begins to shed light on how concepts of “biosecurity” apply to practical seaweed farming. The biosecurity techniques described in this paper generally seem to equate to the notion of Tender-Loving Care (TLC) that has evolved as rules of thumb applied by practicing seaweed farmers.

Your results indicated that diligent cleansing, culling, selection, etc. can result in reduced incidence of ice-ice syndrome and cleaner crops (hence biosecurity) but what is the return per unit of effort? How does this translate to increased farm profitability… which is probably the goal of most farm enterprises?

Dear Dr Iain Neish,

Thank you for a brief summary of the concept of biosecurity in seaweed aquaculture, particular at farm-level. The biosecurity aims to improve the sustainability of seaweed aquaculture include the reduction of disease/pests that often occur in seaweed farm, enhance farm productivity and help sustain farmer's livelihood. At Farm-level, the biosecurity is more about managing farm practices including the Tender-Loving-Care (TLC) on seaweed crop which need more effort and off-course more money to produce healthier and good quality of seaweed on the farm. Since our study is preliminary, the return per unit effort has not yet clear estimated. In general, our result of cost-effectiveness required more than double of the biosecurity cost compare to the standards cost, mainly increased in labor and boat rental cost, but it produces healthier individual seaweed, as result it could increase farmer income. The cost-effectiveness is one of our concern in further biosecurity study. Hopefully, this can answer your question.

Regards,

Cicilia