Kim, H.-C.; Song, Y.-S.; Kim, Y.H.; Son, S.; Cho, J.-G.; Chang, W.K.; Lee, C.-H.; Nam, J., and Ryu, J., 2018. Implications of esuarine and coastal management in the growth of Porphyra sp. in the Geum River Estuary, South Korea: A modeling study. In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 396–400. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

Laver (Porphyra sp.) is one of macroalgae species that has been cultivated for the purpose of food consumption in the coastal areas of Korean Peninsula. In specific, Porphyra tenera Kjellman and Porphyra yezonensis Ueda are two major commercial species for aquaculture in the west coast of Korea. In this study authors employed an ecosystem modeling approach (Hadley et al., 2014) to simulate the nutrient physiology and growth of the laver in aquaculture facilities located in the vicinities of Geum River Estuary. Some of model coefficients and parameterizations were modified from the original version based on laboratory experiments, if necessary. In addition, authors calibrated and validated the Delft3D ( https://oss.deltares.nl/web/delft3d) with long-term time series data from the area. The Delft3D is an open source modeling suite that can simulate hydrodynamics (temperature, salinity, flow fields), sediment transport and water quality variables (inorganic nutrients). As one of the end-point goals of the present study is to develop decision supporting tools that can be used by coastal managers, the macroalgae growth model was coupled with the Delft3D in order to predict effects of episodic climatic events and/or upstream water management decisions on the estuarine ecosystem. Temperature, salinity and nitrogen loadings estimated from the Delft3D were used as input to the ecosystem model, and subsequent responses from Porphyra sp. were numerically simulated. Given thirteen scenario-based simulations, it is found that model simulated dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations do not change significantly for the same climatic condition. However, the maximum potential annual production of macroalgae is found to be more dependent on ammonium ion concentration.