Energy-food nexus in the marine environment: A macroeconomic analysis on offshore wind energy and seafood production in Scotland

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThe rapid development of offshore wind farms (OWFs) has stimulated debate about its overall socioeconomic impacts. Expanding the scale of OWFs increases the availability and affordability of electricity but could displace existing fishing activities and reduce food supply. To evaluate these impacts from a macroeconomic perspective, a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is developed, using Scotland as a case study. A particular focus is placed on the disaggregated electricity and seafood sectors, their interconnectedness from an energy-food nexus perspective, and the distributional effects across household groups. This paper explores, from macroeconomic perspective, the trade-offs in the energy-food nexus between expanding OWFs and the seafood sectors, together with the impacts on food and energy security. The results suggest that, through economic linkages, increasing the number of OWFs would have a negative, but limited, effect on seafood production sectors. However, the falling cost of electricity from OWFs would have a positive impact on the economy overall and benefit lower income households, contributing to a reduction in fuel poverty. The model results raise the awareness of nexus linkages between OWFs and seafood production and are applicable to policies involving the development of other offshore renewables.University of Exete

Trace Elements and Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotopes in Organisms from a Tropical Coastal Lagoon

Trace elements (Fe, Mn, Al, Zn, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cd, Hg, and As) and stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) were analyzed in sediments, invertebrates, and fishes from a tropical coastal lagoon influenced by iron ore mining and processing activities to assess the differences in trace element accumulation patterns among species and to investigate relations with trophic levels of the organisms involved. Overall significant negative relations between trophic level (given by 15N) and trace element concentrations in gastropods and crustaceans showed differences in internal controls of trace element accumulation among the species of different trophic positions, leading to trace element dilution. Generally, no significant relation between δ15N and trace element concentrations was observed among fish species, probably due to omnivory in a number of species as well as fast growth. Trace element accumulation was observed in the fish tissues, with higher levels of most trace elements found in liver compared with muscle and gill. Levels of Fe, Mn, Al, and Hg in invertebrates, and Fe and Cu in fish livers, were comparable with levels in organisms and tissues from other contaminated areas. Trace element levels in fish muscle were below the international safety baseline standards for human consumption

Economic trade-offs in marine resource use between offshore wind farms and fisheries in Scottish waters

The rapid expansion of offshore wind farms (OWFs) has prompted growing concerns about the extent to which competition over the marine resource causes trade-offs within the energy-food nexus. Reflecting this concern, the paper develops a novel marine resource allocation module which augments a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, calibrated on Scottish data. This allows simulations with varying degrees of differential productivity of the marine resource across alternative uses. Simulation results with the model show that increasing OWFs can impose substantial negative impacts on seafood supply. Extensive analysis is undertaken to test the sensitivity of the model results to changes in the heterogeneity of the marine resource between sectors and the degree of substitution between capital and the marine resource in the competing sectors. The outcomes of this analysis support policies to develop the integrated management of food and energy production in the marine environment. This includes spatial integration and the use of tools such as co-location in policy implementation. They also highlight the potential for the substitution of capital for the marine resource in the OWF sector as a means of substantially reducing the negative impact on the Fishing sector

The export base model with a supply-side stimulus to the export sector

In the export-base model, the level of a region’s economic activity is underpinned by the performance of its export sector (Daly, 1940; Dixon and Thirlwall, 1975; Kaldor, 1970; North, 1955). This theory is now almost universally represented as a primitive version of the familiar Input-Output (IO) or Keynesian demand-driven approach, where regional output is linked to regional exports through a rather mechanistic multiplier process (Romanoff, 1974). Further, in a standard IO inter-regional framework, the expansion of output in one region always generates positive impacts on other regions. That is to say, there is always a positive spread, and no negative backwash, effect