Y P O C E C N A V D A GRID-Arendal, a Norwegian foundation Blue Climate Solutions, a project of The and Centre collaborating with UNEP, is Ocean Foundation, is a non-profit organisa- located in southern Norway. Established in tion with a mission to promote the conserva- 1989 by Norway’s Ministry of Environment, tion of the world’s coasts and oceans as an GRID-Arendal’s activities specifically sup- innovative, proactive and viable solution to the climate change challenge. port UNEP’s Programme of Work. GRID-Arendal’s mission is to provide Blue Climate Solutions was established in 2008 and works in the arenas environmental information, communications and capacity building ser- of policy, science, communications, and management. Blue Climate Solu- vices for information management and assessment. Together with its part- tions seeks to better understand the roles that coastal and ocean ecosys- ners, GRID-Arendal’s core focus is to support decision-making processes tems play in addressing climate change and explore how those values can aimed at securing a sustainable future. be translated into improved and sustainable ecosystem management. Lutz SJ, Martin AH. 2014. Fish Carbon: Exploring Marine Vertebrate Carbon Services. Published by GRID-Arendal, A Centre Collaborating with UNEP, Norway. ISBN: 978-82-7701-146-2 This report is jointly produced by GRID-Arendal and Blue Climate Solutions Disclaimer The contents of this report do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of GRID-Arendal or contributory organisations. The designations employed and the presentations do not im- ply the expressions of any opinion whatsoever on the part of GRID-Arendal or contributory organisations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, company or area or its authority, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Authors Steven J Lutz, Blue Carbon Programme Leader, GRID-Arendal Angela H Martin, Fish Carbon Project Lead, Blue Climate Solutions Layout Rob Barnes, GRID-Arendal FISH CARBON EXPLORING MARINE VERTEBRATE CARBON SERVICES Reviewers Dr. Sylvia Earle, Founder and Chair of Mission Blue, Sylvia Earle Alliance (SEA) Gabriel Grimsditch, Senior Project Officer, IUCN Dr. Peter Harris, Managing Director, GRID-Arendal Martin Julseth, Blue Carbon+ Project Leader, Blue Climate Solutions Dr. Heidi C Pearson, Assistant Professor of Marine Biology, University of Alaska Southeast Dr. Joe Roman, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont, Hardy Fellow, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University Dr. Grace K Saba, Assistant Research Professor, Coastal Ocean Observation Lab, Rutgers University Dr. Rebecca L Shuford, Fishery Biologist, NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology Mark J Spalding, President, The Ocean Foundation Anonymous Reviewer PREFACE ... but for all that we hold dear, including life itself, we must care about the ocean as if our lives depend on it... Upon first voyaging into space, Astronauts were enthralled by the beautiful blue marble they found themselves circling above. American Astronaut, James Irwin, remarking on travelling to the moon in 1971, “As we got further and further away, it [the Earth] diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful you can imagine. That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart.” The ocean is Earth’s life support system. The ocean regulates While this blue engine provides environmental services critical to temperature, climate, and weather. The living ocean governs human life on Earth, human actions directly threaten the ocean. planetary chemistry; regulates temperature; generates most Over 99% of the ocean is open to extractive activities, drilling, of the oxygen in the sea and atmosphere; powers the water, dredging and dumping. While industrial fishing removes carbon, and nitrogen cycles. It holds 97% of Earth’s water and millions of tons of marine life from ocean ecosystems, tons of 97% of the biosphere. We know that most of the oxygen in the discarded plastics and derelict fishing gear continue to kill more atmosphere is generated -- and much of the carbon dioxide marine life indiscriminately throughout 100% of the ocean. The is taken up -- by mangroves, marshes, sea grasses, algae and ocean has also been a place to discard our wastes. This practice especially microscopic phytoplankton in the ocean. Quite has come back to haunt us by way of hundreds of toxic dead zones simply, no ocean, no life. No blue, no green. If not for the in coastal waters. The burning of fossil fuels is causing changes ocean, there would be no climate to discuss or anyone around in ocean chemistry and increasing the acidity of the water. The to debate the issues. effects are already being observed in the thinning shells of young oysters in the Pacific Northwest, the disintegration of the Recently, the largest gathering of world leaders ever to address skeletons of young corals, and of sea snails in Antarctic waters. climate change met in New York City. However, the largest factor in our climate cycle, the ocean, was absent from the Both oceanic and terrestrial impacts of global climate change discussions. The ocean’s importance to earth and climate is are exacerbated by increased human interference with oceanic well understood and documented, with substantial evidence cycles: the cycles that are crucial for our life support system. gathered over the last 50 years. Knowing what we now know, it “Business as usual” threatens to squander perhaps the only is alarming that the ocean was excluded so completely from the chance we have to put things right before climatic changes UN General Assembly meetings in September 2014. become wholly irreversible. 4 There is still time if we act now. In terrestrial ecosystems Now we know. As go the oceans, so goes the fate of life on Earth. climate policy addresses the release of carbon dioxide by The ocean doesn’t care one way or another about us, but for all industrial activities. This report is a key step in increasing our that we hold dear, including life itself, we must care about the understanding of the ways that marine vertebrates contribute ocean as if our lives depend on it, because they do. to the global carbon cycle, one of the vital functions of our life support system, and how they buffer against ocean acidification. ‘Fish Carbon: An Exploration of Marine Vertebrate Carbon Services’ highlights the direct relevance of marine vertebrates to climate change mitigation and presents an opportunity Sylvia A. Earle PhD. to secure this service, at this critical juncture, through the Chairman and CEO, SEAlliance protection and conservation of marine vertebrates. Founder, Mission Blue Explorer-in-Residence, National Geographic Acknowledging the importance of marine life in climate change will not only provide much needed opportunities in climate mitigation, but will simultaneously enhance food security for coastal and island communities, while safeguarding biodiversity and marine ecosystems on a global scale, particularly in the unprotected high seas. It is important that we build upon this knowledge and act accordingly. By protecting the ocean, we can continue to benefit from these services, and to secure the viability of Earth as a blue planet This text is based on Sylvia Earle and John Bridgeland’s Op-ed titled ‘The Big Blue Elephant in the Room’ published by the Huffington Post on September 30, 2014. conducive to supporting human life. 5 SUMMARY Climate change presents a serious global challenge for current and future generations. It has been termed a defining issue of our era and “poses a severe threat to human wel- fare, biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, and possibly to life itself” (COMEST 2010). In March of this year, Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that “nobody on the planet will be untouched by climate change” (United Nations 2014). If we are committed to addressing climate change and making ecosystems is equivalent to “over 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon a smooth transition to a low carbon economy, then we must dioxide” (Rogers et al. 2014), with a total ecosystem service or reduce and mitigate the impacts of atmospheric carbon without social benefit value of $148 billion USD annually (with a range delay. Key to this is the need to reduce emissions of greenhouse between $74 and $222 billion) (Rogers et al. 2014). gases (GHG). However, we must also explore the capacity and mechanisms of nature to mitigate climate change, such as The importance of terrestrial forest ecosystems in removing carbon capture and storage. The green and blue biospheres1 carbon dioxide (CO ) from the atmosphere is scientifically 2 of the Earth present such options – natural systems from recognized (Nabuurs et al. 2007, Pan et al. 2011) and rainforests to seagrass meadows that have been providing climate included in climate change programmes such as the United services in a tried and tested way for millennia (Crooks et al. Nations collaborative initiative on Reducing Emissions from 2011, Donato et al. 2011, Duarte et al. 2005, Fourqurean et al. Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in developing 2012, Laffoley and Grimsditch 2009, Nabuurs et al. 2007, countries (UN-REDD 2008). The importance of coastal marine Nellemannn et al. 2009, Pan et al. 2011, Pendleton et al. 2012). ecosystems, such as mangrove forests, kelp forests, seagrass meadows, and saltwater marshes, in storing and sequestering The blue biosphere is vitally important to life on our planet atmospheric carbon (also referred to as coastal ‘Blue Carbon’ and to global climate change. The ocean encompasses over and ‘Blue Forests’) is also recognized in science (Crooks et al. 70% of the Earth’s surface, and plays a crucial role in oxygen 2011, Donato et al. 2011, Duarte et al. 2005, Fourqurean et al. production, weather patterns, and the global carbon cycle 2012, Laffoley and Grimsditch 2009, Nellemannn et al. 2009, (Denman et al. 2007). The ocean is by far the largest carbon Pendleton et al. 2012). The importance of the blue biosphere sink in the world: it accumulates 20 to 35% of atmospheric in climate change is beginning to be acknowledged in the carbon emissions (Sabine et al. 2004, Houghton 2007) and policy and management arena (Murray et al. 2012, Ullman “some 93% of the earth’s carbon dioxide is stored and cycled et al. 2012, CNRWG 2014), including through on-the-ground through the oceans” (Nellemann et al. 2009). It has been initiatives such as the Abu Dhabi Blue Carbon Demonstration estimated that annual carbon capture and storage by high seas Project (AGEDI 2014) and the Global Environment Facility’s 1 The terrestrial and oceanic areas occupied by living organisms, respectfully. Blue Forests Project (IW:LEARN 2014). 6 Primary producers, such as phytoplankton, convert atmospheric carbon into organic carbon, thus forming the basis of the oceanic biological carbon cycle. This report sets out to present the following question: What role can marine vertebrate carbon services play in addressing the global climate challenge? To date, much of the scientific focus of the oceanic carbon on this subject. This report highlights seven biological cycle has been on the roles of phytoplankton and zooplankton mechanisms provided by marine vertebrates that result in in carbon sequestration (Doney et al. 2001, Moore et al. 2004, carbon sequestration, and one mechanism which may provide Hofmann et al. 2008) and there is much yet to be discovered a buffer against ocean acidification, all of which may help in the regarding the intricate biological pathways involved in carbon mitigation of climate change. cycling and the associated implications for climate regulation (Schmitz et al. 2014). The role of higher level marine life, the Much scientific endeavour remains to be accomplished vertebrates, in global climate change and carbon sequestration is regarding Fish Carbon, including understanding the potential largely invisible, as marine vertebrates are not included in most total contribution of Fish Carbon to oceanic carbon cycling in models of carbon cycling (Davison et al. 2013, Pershing et al. comparison to the role of plankton. However, the mechanisms 2010, Roman and McCarthy 2010). However, an increasing presented in this report enable new and innovative outlooks number of studies are being published that explore the value on addressing the global challenge of climate change, such of marine biota, other than plankton, in the biological carbon as promoting the role that schools of fish and pods of marine pump (Lebrato et al. 2013, Marlow et al. 2014, Roman et al. mammals may play in transporting carbon between ocean 2014, Saba and Steinberg, 2012). Marine vertebrates (and other surface and sediment. animals) may have disproportionately large impacts on carbon uptake, storage and release through “multiplier effects, whose While reducing emissions remains at the forefront of national magnitudes may rival those of more traditional carbon storage and international climate change initiatives, the vital role of estimates” (Schmitz et al. 2014). ocean ecosystems as carbon sinks, including the contribution Although entitled ‘Fish Carbon’, our objective is to highlight of marine vertebrates, is largely overlooked in the policy arena the role that all marine vertebrates including fish, mammals and may be undervalued. and turtles, play in oceanic carbon cycling, and it’s potential application to addressing the climate change challenge. The This report sets out to present the following question: aim is to assist policy makers to mainstream the natural value, or benefit, of Fish Carbon into marine management, What role can marine vertebrate carbon services play in climate change discussions, and to further scientific research addressing the global climate challenge? 7 CONTENTS 4 PREFACE 6 SUMMARY 9 INTRODUCTION - OCEANS OF BLUE CARBON 12 MARINE VERTEBRATE CARBON SERVICES 35 TROPHIC CASCADE CARBON 15 BIOMIXING CARBON 16 BONY FISH CARBONATE 16 WHALE PUMP 18 TWILIGHT ZONE CARBON 19 BIOMASS CARBON 20 DEAD-FALL CARBON 21 MARINE VETEBRATE MEDIATED CARBON 22 OUR OCEAN - A BACKDROP 24 POLICY IMPLICATIONS 26 MOVING FORWARD 30 REFERENCES 34 PHOTO CREDITS 35 ABOUT THE AUTHORS INTRODUCTION - OCEANS OF BLUE CARBON Human consumption of Earth’s natural resources has resulted in global scale en- vironmental modifications with significant implications for the welfare of current, and future, human society (Crutzen 2002, Wilkinson 2005, McLellan et al. 2014). Potentially the greatest global challenge is climate change, driven in part by human activities and particularly the combustion of fossil fuels and other industrial process- es which release gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO ), into the atmosphere. Elevated 2 concentrations of atmospheric CO influence global weather and ocean processes, 2 resulting in a variety of alterations to human and natural systems, and in many cases posing risks to human well-being and other forms of life on Earth (Antle et al. 2001, Easterling et al. 2007, Battisti and Naylor 2009). Some of the most serious threats that result from these changes Blue Carbon initiatives currently underway focus on three manifest themselves in the ocean, such as ocean acidification. coastal ecosystems identified as significant for atmospheric While overall still alkaline, increased amounts of dissolved carbon storage and sequestration: mangrove forests, saltwater carbon lower oceanic pH to levels too acidic for many marine marshes, and seagrass meadows (Crooks et al. 2011, Donato et al. organisms (Hönisch et al. 2012, Mathis et al. 2014, Wittmann 2011, Duarte et al. 2005, Fourqurean et al. 2012, Laffoley and and Pörtner 2013). Oceanic changes occurring on a global Grimsditch 2009, Nellemannn et al. 2009, Pendleton et al. scale include rising sea levels, warming, deoxygenation, and 2012). Recent publications have also alluded to a stronger increasingly severe storm surges. connection between marine vertebrates and effective oceanic carbon sequestration (e.g. Arnason et al. 2009, Naber et al. 2008, Blue Carbon - is a concept that describes carbon linked Lutz 2011, AGEDI 2014, Roman et al. 2014). The San Feliu De to the marine environment through coastal and open Guíxols Ocean Carbon Declaration, authored in 2010 by 29 Pew ocean ecosystems. The planet’s blue biosphere “is a major Fellows in Marine Conservation and advisors, acknowledged component of the global carbon cycle, responsible for roughly that “marine vertebrates, such as whales, sharks and finfish, half of the annual photosynthetic absorption of CO from the may also be very effective carbon sinks” and recommended 2 atmosphere” (Lutz et al. 2007). “targeted research to improve our understanding of the contribution of coastal and open ocean marine ecosystems to Carbon dioxide gas exchange, or flux, between the ocean and the carbon cycle and to the effective removal of carbon from the atmosphere is largely controlled by sea surface temperatures, atmosphere” (San Feliu De Guíxols Ocean Carbon Declaration circulating currents, and by the biological processes of 2010). Recognizing a value for marine vertebrates in oceanic photosynthesis and respiration (Figure 1). In short, marine carbon cycling expands the current Blue Carbon approach ecosystems critically aid climate change mitigation by within and beyond the coasts and has the potential to advance sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and providing natural our understanding of global climate processes and their carbon storage in biomass and sediments. application to mitigation and adaptation. 9 SOLUBILITY PUMP ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION PATTERNS CO CO 2 Transport of CO 2 2 through the air-sea interface AIR-SEA INTERFACE CO EXCHANGES 2 Low High Latitudes Latitudes PHYSICAL PUMP CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 Transport of CO 2 by Vertical CO Respiration Deep Water Masses CO 2 Mixing and Deep 2 Formation Water Masses Food Web Global Action Long-time Scale Vertical Mixing Nutrients Local Action (Ammonia) Phytoplankton Short-time Scale CO Primary Oxygen 2 Nutrients Production Organic Carbon CO 2 Bacteria Egestion Remineralization N Decomposition (Nitruattreie)nts Particulate Carbon (Organic and Inorganic) Sinking N(utNiritreanttes) BIOLOGICAL PUMP CO Vertical gravitational 2 settlings of Bacteria biogenic debris Oxidation Carbon Deposition Sources: 10 Carbon Burial Chester 2003, Elderfield 2006, Houghton 2007, Lueker et al 2000, Raven and Falkowski 1999.