Let more big fish sink: Fisheries prevent blue carbon sequestration—half in unprofitable areas

Mariani, G., et al., Science Advances

Let more big fish sink: Fisheries prevent blue carbon sequestration—half in unprofitable areas
Amin Abu on Unsplash

Here, we used historical catches and fuel consumption to show that ocean fisheries have released a minimum of 0.73 billion metric tons of CO2 (GtCO2) in the atmosphere since 1950. Globally, 43.5% of the blue carbon extracted by fisheries in the high seas comes from areas that would be economically unprofitable without subsidies. Limiting blue carbon extraction by fisheries, particularly on unprofitable areas, would reduce CO2 emissions by burning less fuel and reactivating a natural carbon pump through the rebuilding of fish stocks and the increase of carcasses deadfall.

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