The ocean is a huge natural sponge for carbon dioxide, About 30 percent From the world’s annual carbon emissions. But certain human activities are displayed that sponge less absorbent, as described in new research. Bottom trawling for fish such as sole and shellfish and dredging to maintain ports, the seabed disrupts, causing a cascade of chemical changes that reduce the power of the ocean to drop climate -warming carbon from the atmosphere, according to a study Published March 28 in the diary Science progress.
Together the effects of dredging and trawling release between 2 and 8 Teragrams (2-8 million tons) of carbon dioxide per year-equal to the annual energy emissions of a maximum of 1 million American housesAccording to the new analysis. Compared to all carbon emissions that are the result of burning fossil fuels worldwide (or even a single industrialized nation Annual emissions), the amount of co2 Is small.
“First and foremost we have to reduce our emissions. There is no way to do that,” Sebastiaan van de VeldeCapital study and a marine geochemist at the University of Otago in Nieuw -Zeeland, says Popular science. But when governments and business investors pour enormous amounts of money and resources into the projects of the Moonshot Carbon Capture, the findings of the seabed are considerable, says Van de Velde.
Outlin how and where Trawling is done, hundreds of times more greenhouse gas emissions can cut than all Currently operational direct air cabbage capture factories on earthhe notes. Reducing trawling and dredging in a climate -conscious way can have carbon benefits on the same footing with major Restoration projects for Mangrove and WetlandFor a fraction of the costs, he explains. That does not mean that we have to stop repairing ecosystems from the coast, which offer many benefits, such as minimizing erosion and stimulating storm ferry. But maybe it means that we also have to consider changing how we fish.
Have previous studies found that trawlingand other disruptions of the seabed, release greenhouse gases. However, this earlier research has focused on organic carbon: in principle the rotting mud on the bottom of the ocean that keeps a number of carbon in the dark. Trawling brings back to the surface, where the stored carbon can be cycled through the microbe food web and can be released again in the air as co2.
The new study is investigating the other side of the coin: inorganic carbon and ocean suction degree. Important chemical reactions with regard to dissolved stone particles and minerals unfold on the seabed. These reactions help to make the marine environment more alkaline (ie basic). Generating alkality is a central characteristic of carbon cycles in the ocean. That is why the ocean can first of all absorb carbon dioxide from the air –2 Dissolved in water becomes carbon dioxide. If things get too sour and the seas become saturated, it can no longer absorb. The alkaline seabed processes against acidification and the ocean prime to absorb extra carbon dioxide.
Pull a heavy set of nets and necklaces over the seabed to catch fish or scoop up sediments by dredging that standard chemical cycles. Both activities introduce more oxygen in the ocean floor than would normally be present. Oxygen turns the reactions to produce alkalin emolecules, instead more acidity and hinders the ability of seawater to absorb CO2 of the atmosphere.
To estimate the full effects of dredging and trawlen worldwide, trusted from De Velde and his colleagues at real data cataloging carbon lux, oxygen levels and pH. They built a global mathematical model of alkalinity of the seabed and then used individual statistics on dredging and trawling to conclude how much these activities disrupt the acid-base chemistry. They determined that muddy series of the coastal board are the most important type of seabed surface for producing alkality, and therefore the most affected by dredging and trawling.
The final value they came to (again, 2-8 teragrams of carbon dioxide produced per year) includes some uncertainty because data on dredging and trawling are limited, the ocean floor is not uniform and the amount of sediment raised by every fishing boat or Drudger depends on the type used and the location.
“They are the best figures we could get, but they are not necessarily the [100 percent] Correct numbers, “says Van de Velde Popular science. “There are many things we do that we don’t really know the effects of. And in the ocean there are many unknown people – things that we don’t even know we don’t know.” He hopes that his studies represents the start of a better understanding and leads to more exact future analyzes.
In the meantime, he also hopes that this first attempt to quantify the inorganic carbon effects of Trabawling and dredging will encourage marine industry and regulatory authorities to adjust. Progress in equipment can make trawling less harmful and economical, without imaging the seafood. And in some regions, trawling can be limited to 40 percent of current fishing grounds or even less – 60 percent aside for retention, and the revenues would only fall by 10 percent, according to A report from 2021 of the International Council for the Exploration of Sea.
“For me it seems like a no-brainer,” says Van de Velde. It is theoretically possible to have your fish and also eat it (with much fewer climate effects) – but the industry must be willing to be swept in the tidal of change.
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