Dive In Deeper - Blue Carbon and Seagrass

Burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) increases the levels of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat in the atmosphere.

As a result the world’s average surface temperature is increasing; this is referred to as climate change.

The ocean has absorbed 90% of the excess heat and 30% of the carbon dioxide that has entered the atmosphere in recent decades.

Blue carbon refers to the carbon that is captured and stored in coastal and marine ecosystems.

Certain marine and coastal habitats have been identified as important carbon stores, capable of removing and storing carbon more effectively than land bases habitats. These include kelp reef habitats, salt marshes, seagrass beds, biogenic reefs, maerl beds and mangrove forest.

Blue carbon habitats can store up to five times as much carbon as tropical forests, and absorbs it three times as quickly.

83% of the global carbon cycle is circulated through the ocean.

Coastal habitats cover less than 2% of the total ocean area but account for approximately half of the total carbon sequestered in ocean sediments.

Seagrass habitats cover less than 0.2% of the ocean floor but account for 10% of the ocean’s capacity to store carbon and can capture carbon from the atmosphere up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests!

Seagrasses are the only marine flowering plants; they cover over 21Km2 of Scotland’s coastline.

It is estimated that Scottish seagrass meadows can take up 1,021 tonnes of carbon annually. It would take over 60,000 tree seedlings more than 10 years to capture this amount of carbon.

Seagrass meadows also provide a habitat for many fish species, and protect our coastline from erosion by stabilising sediments and reducing wave impacts.