# Lessons for Coastal Applications of IMTA as a Way towards Sustainable Development: A Review
## 5 Economic Value and Financial Viability of Coastal IMTA
### Region- and Country-Specific IMTA
#### 5.2.2 Others Region  
In the Mediterranean, the combination of marculture with ecological restoration suggests inshorte IMTA practices and the combination of mussel farming with artificial reefs in the open sea [115]. Polychaetes, sponges, and macroalgae co-cultured in a southern Italian in-shore marculture plant were the subject of the above-cited recent study on one of the first attempts at IMTA in the Mediterranean region [82]. Lanada, (Fundy Bay), IMTA combines kelp _Saccharina latissima_ and _Alaria esculent_ with Atlantic salmon and blue mussel. Higher kelp and mussel growth rates were found with positive implications for the profitability of this enterprise [116]. In South Africa, several commercial abalone farms have successfully applied _Ulva_ macroalgae to absorb ammonia from effluent water in recirculating or flow-through systems. The algae can subsequently be fed back to the abalone to supplement formulated feed [33]. A recent study considers a productive area of 2000 m\({}^{2}\) as representing a typical small-scale multi-trophic production system enterprise in Southeast Brazil and evaluates its economic viability with economic indicators for two monotrophic crops, _Perna pernu_ (mussels) and _Rachycentron canadum_ (cobias). Profitability is assessed with the Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Payback Period (PP), and Net Present Value (NPV). IRR is used for financial analysis to estimate the profitability of potential investments. PP is the number of years required to recover the original cash investment. NPV compares the initial capital investment of a project to the present value of all the cash flows it will generate in the future. Investment assessments with a 10-year time horizon are undertaken using scenarios which assume 20% and 40% of cobia juvenile unit prices, average feed price, cobia commercial price, mussel commercial price, cobia productivity, and mussel productivity. In all scenarios, multi-trophic systems were more economically viable than the other evaluated scenarios. IMTA systems' greater resilience also makes them more appealing to entreprene than monocultures, since diversified production is less exposed to overall failure [117]. On the southern coast of Brazil, the economic viability of IMTA (_Perna pernu_) mussel, _Nodipecten nodosus_ scallop, and _Kappadhycus alvarezii_ algae) was assessed for a small-scale family production system of 0.4 ha. All key indicators showed positive values: Investment, operational expenses, and profitability; the financial indicators of Gross Revenue (GR) and Operating Profit (OP); the profitability indicators of Gross Margin (GM) and Profitability Index (PI), (\"Gross Revenue (GR)\" (which is total revenue before any deductions for expenses or losses); \"Operating Profit (OP)\" (which is the total amount of money made by the business in a given time period, before interest and taxes are removed); an finally also the \"Profitability Index (PI)\" which indicates the relationship between a proposed project's expenses and benefits). The payback period in the worst evaluated scenario was 4.24 years, and even this was still classed as a low-risk investment. Returns were always higher than the nominal discount rate of 6%. All this showed the IMTA project to be economically viable. The economic evaluation of the first experience of a small-scale commercial IMTA system in Southeast Brazil was thus positive, IMTA was shown to be able to support social and economic improvement in that region [118]. Another early study [119] in Latin America, analysed _Gracilaria chilensis_ with salmon farming in an integrated salmon-seaweed production process throughout southern Chile. Seaweed production provided 34,000 USD/year of farm gross income, which is approximately USD 0.28 per kilogram of fish. The study concludes that this IMTA system brought large economic benefits to Chile's salmon farming industry, as well as clear environmental benefits.