Estimations of quantities of carbon storage by seaweed and seagrass beds
2009
Ito, Y., Japanese Inst. of Technology on Fishing Ports, Grounds and Communities, Tokyo (Japan) | Nakano, Y. | Matsushita, S. | Mikami, N. | Yokoyama, J. | Kirihara, S. | Notoya, M.
The seaweed and seagrass beds have the ecological functions by providing nursery grounds, spawning grounds and food for aquatic animals, purifying the waters through absorption of nitrogen and phosphorus in seawater and the bottom, and reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by fixing carbon through photosynthesis. Among these functions, the calculation technique of economic values about the increase of fishery production and water purification in the fishery infrastructure improvement project is proposed. However the economic value of the air quality conservation effect by carbon fixation has not been calculated. To improve the cost-effectiveness of the seaweed and seagrass beds development in the fishery infrastructure improvement project, the trial calculation of the long-term carbon fixation by main types of seaweeds and seagrass beds was made by analyzing carbon cycle processes based on previous knowledge. The trial calculation results showed that the quantity of long-term carbon fixation, which varied with the type of seaweed and seagrass beds, was 0.10kg-C/square m/year in Zostera marina beds, 1.67kg-C/square m/year in Eisenia and Ecklonia beds, 0.13kg -C/square m/year in Laminaria beds and 0.60kg-C/square m/year in Sargassum beds respectively. It was suggested that the main process of carbon fixation was the sedimentation of withered grass body and underground stem without degradation as for Zostera marina beds, and transfer of the drifting seaweeds to the offshore mesopelagic zone as for the Eisenia and Ecklonia beds and the Sargassum beds. The benefit of the long-term carbon fixation by the seaweed and seagrass beds development was estimated from 10 thousands of yen to 190 thousand of yen in 30years per 1ha of the seaweed and seagrass beds based on the market price of the carbon emissions trading
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