Ten Guidelines for Phycosecurity Implemented as Biosecure Ecosystem Services Management of Tropical Seaweed Farms

Lessons learned during the Phyconomy.org Topical Phyconomy Collaboration Development (TPCD) eucheumatoid seaweeds biology webinar of July 7–8, 2021, indicated an apparent need for structured ongoing collaboration toward tropical seaweed industry biosecurity in a specific way termed “phycosecurity,” which was defined as “biosecure phyconomy that results from procedures implemented against harmful biological, chemical and socioeconomic disruptions that influence ecosystem services of seaweed populations in multibiomass ecoscapes.” Phycosecurity implementation was postulated to function in a context of four elements of multibiomass ecoscape systems, namely, (1) ecosystem services from seaweed crops that are balanced with those from other ecoscape biomass per phycosecure management decisions; (2) socioecoeconomics that valorize seaweed ecosystem services per societal norms, mores, and folkways that institutionalize phycosecurity; (3) spatial management of ecoscapes done according to integrated coastal management principles that embrace phycosecurity; and (4) information technologies that provide quantified knowledge, information, tools, and solutions that enable phycosecurity. Ten policy guidelines for phycosecurity networking were proposed with the understanding that they will evolve as phycosecurity networks develop.