Quantification of Harvestable Seaweed using a Topographic-bathymetric Lidar System

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Acadian Seaplants Limited (ASL) is an internationally recognized leader in the marine plant product industry.Based in Nova Scotia, ASL harvests the seaweed (rockweed) from intertidal areas on the Atlantic and Bay ofFundy coasts. ASL currently sells their products in more than 70 countries, creating close to 600 jobs in theMaritimes and bringing more than $40 M to the local economy. ASL is dedicated to running a responsible,sustainable, seaweed industry and as such has a long history of conducting research to determine best practices.To ensure proper management of this renewable resource, they monitor harvesting and growth along its leasedcoastlines. Currently, this task is executed using ground transects and accurate recording of harvests, thoughthis process is labour intensive and biased to more accessible coastlines. The use of satellite remote sensing tomap the seaweed relies on data acquired at low tide when the seaweed is exposed and no clouds or fog present,thus limiting acquisition time periods. Nova Scotia Community College's Applied Geomatics Research Group(AGRG) will explore a new remote sensing technology - airborne topographic-bathymetric lidar - to assist ASLin new and innovative mapping and monitoring of the rockweed resource. Specifically, AGRG will acquiremulti-year topographic-bathymetric lidar datasets for a section of ASL leased coastline in Southwest NovaScotia at low and high tide, immediately post-harvest, and one year post-harvest to determine resourceassessment, harvested biomass, and growth rates, respectively. NSCC's new sensor potentially eliminates therequirement for low tide acquisition to obtain measurements of seaweed. In addition, a hydrodynamic modelfor the site will be run to investigate current speeds and other dynamic features that may influence any growthrate variance within the site. The results from this innovative study will assist ASL to more efficiently monitorpresent resources and more precisely assess resources in new areas, and help ASL move to a more spatiallyintegrated workflow. The Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture is responsible for permittingthe leases and ensuring the harvest operations are sustainable, and are financially supporting the project.