Dependency of commercial fisheries on kelp forests for valuation of ecosystem services

The world’s kelp forests cover over a third of the world’s coastlines and provide numerous benefits to humans. Understanding the values associated with kelp forests is essential for meeting international initiatives concerning ocean accounting and ecosystem assessments. The GEAK network is an international group of expert kelp forest ecologists and environmental economists working to synthesize the values and functions of kelp forests globally. The network has developed a common data collection approach and protocol to quantify the different ecosystem services (e.g., provisioning, regulating, biodiversity, and cultural) provided by kelp forests. This manuscript presents the guidelines for attributing proportional value of kelp dependent commercial and subsistence fisheries to different target species