Quantification and mitigation of bottom-trawling impacts on sedimentary organic carbon stocks in the North Sea

Porz, Lucas; Zhang, Wenyan; Christiansen, Nils; Kossack, Jan; Daewel, Ute; Schrum, Corinna

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2547-2024

Articles | Volume 21, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2547-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2547-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 10

Research article

|

28 May 2024

Research article |

| 28 May 2024

Quantification and mitigation of bottom-trawling impacts on sedimentary organic carbon stocks in the North Sea

Lucas Porz, Wenyan Zhang, Nils Christiansen, Jan Kossack, Ute Daewel, and Corinna Schrum

Data sets

Mud content of Noarth Sea surface sediments F.-D. Bockelmann https://doi.org/10.1594/WDCC/coastMap_Substrate_Mud

Total organic carbon content of North Sea surface sediments F.-D. Bockelmann https://doi.org/10.1594/WDCC/coastMap_Substrate_TOC

Model code and software

Modelled benthic oxygen flux for the German Bight W. Zhang https://doi.org/10.17632/2vvny3xd85.2

Semi-implicit Cross-scale Hydroscience Integrated System Model v5.8.1 SCHISM developers https://github.com/schism-dev/schism/tree/v5.8.1

Short summary

Seafloor sediments store a large amount of carbon, helping to naturally regulate Earth's climate. If disturbed, some sediment particles can turn into CO₂, but this effect is not well understood. Using computer simulations, we found that bottom-contacting fishing gears release about 1 million tons of CO₂ per year in the North Sea, one of the most heavily fished regions globally. We show how protecting certain areas could reduce these emissions while also benefitting seafloor-living animals.