Atmospheric CO2 emissions and ocean acidification from bottom-trawling

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Trisha B. Atwood, Anastasia Romanou, Tim DeVries, Paul E. Lerner, Juan S. Mayorga, Darcy Bradley, Reniel B. Cabral, Gavin A. Schmidt, Enric Sala
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024
• Subjects: climate mitigation; natural climate solutions; fisheries management; ocean conservation; blue carbon; Science; Q; General. Including nature conservation; geographical distribution; QH1-199.5; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1125137; https://doaj.org/article/5c7f4c73d93a4f3fa6b8a4aa710a0bbd

Trawling the seafloor can disturb carbon that took millennia to accumulate, but the fate of that carbon and its impact on climate and ecosystems remains unknown. Using satellite-inferred fishing events and carbon cycle models, we find that 55-60% of trawling-induced aqueous CO2 is released to the atmosphere over 7-9 years. Using recent estimates of bottom trawling’s impact on sedimentary carbon, we found that between 1996-2020 trawling could have released, at the global scale, up to 0.34-0.37 Pg CO2 yr-1 to the atmosphere, and locally altered water pH in some semi-enclosed and heavy trawled seas. Our results suggest that the management of bottom-trawling efforts could be an important climate solution.