Sustainable seaweed aquaculture requires regulatory standards to avoid negative outcomes for the environment and industry. Enabling policies such as the adoption of best management practices, funding or loan programs, and permitting transparency can also foster sustainable growth of seaweed industries.

While the governments of Indonesia, Tanzania, and Kenya have all implemented policies to encourage the development of domestic seaweed cultivation, there is still an overall need for a regulatory analysis.

The Nature Conservancy has contracted HIS for the development of an aquaculture policy gap analysis in Kenya, Tanzania, and Indonesia. This analysis informs the development of guidance documents which are intended to provide recommendations for the establishment of robust national mariculture governance frameworks that improve environmental and social effectiveness of seaweed aquaculture policies and regulations as well as mainstream seaweed products in national blue economy strategies.