FishCarbon group: Workshops on Assessing the Impact of Fishing on Oceanic Carbon

Last year’s ICES Workshop on Assessing the Impact of Fishing on Oceanic Carbon (WKFISHCARBON) was attended by 98 people. We are now holding a series of workshops in the week commencing 22 April 2024. These workshops will review outcomes from the 2023 meeting, consider new research that has been produced since April 2023, and develop terms of reference for a second WKFISHCARBON to be held in November 2024.

The workshops will cover the following topics:

• The role of fish and fishing in the biological carbon pump: Monday 22 April at 14:00-17:00 UTC, led by Simeon Hill and Jennifer Freer (British Antarctic Survey).
• Direct greenhouse gas emissions from fisheries: Tuesday 23 April at 12:00-15:00 UTC, led by Arielle Sutherland-Sherriff and Allison Perry (Oceana).
• Benthic trawling impacts on carbon release: Wednesday 24 April at 12:00-16:00 UTC, led by Samuel Rastrick Institute of Marine Research, Norway).

To participate in these workshops and the work of WKFISHCARBON please register here - Registration will close on Thursday the 18 April. (It may be possible to contact session chairs for a meeting link after this date).

Sessions

The role of fish and fishing in the biological carbon pump

Monday 22 April at 14:00-17:00 UTC), led by Simeon Hill and Jennifer Freer (British Antarctic Survey).
Contact: Simeon Hill (sih@bas.ac.uk)

It is becoming increasingly apparent that fished (e.g. pelagic and demersal finfish, squid, krill), and potentially fished (e.g. mesopelagic fish) species play a significant role in the biological carbon point (BCP). Consequently, fishing has the potential to disrupt the BCP and there is a need to improve quantification of this effect. The 2023 WKFISHCARON meeting recognised that knowledge of the BCP is particularly limited for shelf areas where the majority of fishing occurs. Important knowledge gaps include the fate of faecal pellets when they reach the seabed. This session will review new information on the role of fish and fishing in the biological carbon pump in both open ocean and shelf areas and will propose relevant terms of reference for the November 2024 WKFISHCARBON meeting.

14:00 UTC: First session chaired by Jennifer Freer 
14:01: Introduction and objectives of the session – Simeon Hill
14:10: Ocean biogeochemical fingerprints of fast-sinking fish (and tunicate) detritus – Charlie Stock 
14:30: Simulated effects of migrating mesopelagic fishes on the biological carbon pump – Dag Lorents Aksnes 
14:50: Quantifying the role of fish in on-shelf carbon sequestration: Irish Sea case of study – Paula Silvar
15:05: The contribution of mesopelagic fishes to the biological carbon pump in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean – Helena McMonagle

15:30 UTC: BREAK
 
15:45 UTC: Second session chaired by Simeon Hill 
15:45: Conservation measures of marine (macro)fauna as nature-based solutions to climate change – Gaël Mariani
16:05: General discussion and development of Terms of Reference for ICES WKFISHCARBON 2024.

17:00 UTC: Ends

Direct greenhouse gas emissions from fisheries

Tuesday 23 April at 12:00-15:00 (UTC), led by Arielle Sutherland-Sherriff and Allison Perry (Oceana).
Contact: Arielle Sutherland-Sherriff (asutherland@oceana.org) Allison Perry (aperry@oceana.org)

Fisheries emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), primarily carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), have garnered increasing attention in recent climate research and mitigation strategies. Reducing these emissions requires comparable data by vessels and fleets, based on standardised methods, to establish clear baselines and to evaluate the impacts of technological, management, or policy measures. This session aims to establish the current situation in Europe regarding the monitoring and assessment of direct GHG emissions from fisheries, and to identify best practices and the main priorities for standardising these assessments across fishing fleets and countries. Recent research will be presented on current approaches, gaps, and considerations in standardising methods and metrics for assessing fisheries emissions, followed by group discussions centred on data collection methods and challenges in standardisation and international collaboration.

12:00 UTC (14:00 CEST)  Introduction (Arielle Sutherland-Sherriff and Allison Perry, Oceana)
12:05 UTC (14:05 CEST)  Summary of April 2023 ICES WKFISHCARBON Outcomes on Direct Emissions (Katherine Morris, Institute of Life and Earth Sciences, Herriot-Watt University)
12:15 UTC (14:15 CEST)  Recent Research on Direct Emissions:

• Jordi Guillen, Joint Research Centre, European Commission: Monitoring and analysis of fuel consumption in EU fisheries
• Sara Hornborg, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden: Drivers for variability in direct greenhouse gas emissions from fisheries
• Marija Koričan, Department of Naval Engineering and Marine Technology, University of Zagreb: Environmental Assessment of Croatian Fishing Fleet and Application of Decarbonisation Measures
• Alberto Caccin, Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’Foscari University of Venice: Is the small-Scale fishery more sustainable in terms of GHG emissions? A case study analysis from the Central Mediterranean Sea
• Ben Dallaghan, Ireland's Seafood Development Agency (Bord Iascaigh Mhara): GHG emissions from seafood – an Irish case study  

13:30 UTC (15:30 CEST)  Introduction to Breakout Groups
13:35 UTC (15:35 CEST)  BREAK  
13:45 UTC (15:45 CEST)  Breakout Group Discussions  
14:35 UTC (16:35 CEST)  Reporting Back from Groups
14:50 UTC (16:50 CEST)  Wrap Up
15:00 UTC (17:00 CEST)  End of session 

Benthic trawling impacts on carbon release

Wednesday 24 April at 12:00-16:00 (UTC), led by Samuel Rastrick (Institute of Marine Research, Norway) and Billy Hunter (Agri-Food and Bioscience Institute Northern Ireland).
Contact: Samuel Rastrick (samuel.rastrick@hi.no)

The conversion of organic carbon (OC) stored in the seabed to inorganic carbon dissolved in the water column can be affected by bottom fishing. However, some effects of bottom fishing will tend to increase OC remineralisation, while others will have the opposite effect. Published estimates of OC remineralisation associated with bottom fishing also vary widely. Reflecting the great uncertainty and the many assumptions and simplifications associated with such calculations. The 2023 WKFISHCARON meeting recognised that the effects of bottom fishing and other anthropogenic stress on sediment carbon sequestration and remineralisation are likely site specific. Dependent on the complex interactions between local hydrodynamic activity (e.g. sediment mixing and transport), local sediment (e.g. grain size and OC content and stability), local environmental conditions (e.g. temperature and oxygenation), and local biological communities (e.g. production and bioturbation). This session will review new information on local drivers of OC accumulation and remineralisation. In order to develop a list of risk factors that can be used by managers to assess the local vulnerability of sediment OC to remineralisation in response to physical disturbance. 

12:00-12:15 Sam Rastrick (IMR, Norway), Workshop introduction. 
12:15-12:30 Billy Hunter (AFBINI, UK) Title TBC.
12:30-12:45 Ruth Parker (Cefas, UK) Assessing seabed carbon storage and sequestration: response to pressures and management interventions
12:45-13:00 Markus Diesing (NGU, Norway) Maps of organic carbon stocks and accumulation rates on the Norwegian continental margin – how can we use them to estimate benthic trawling impacts?
13:00-13:15 Ana Queiros (PML, UK) Title TBC
13:15-13:30 Lucas Porz (Institute of Coastal Systems, Germany) Quantification and mitigation of bottom trawling impacts on sedimentary organic carbon stocks in the North Sea.
13:30-13:45 Erwann Legrand (IMR, Norway) The importance of vulnerable biogenic habitats to sediment carbon sequestration. 

13:45-14:00 Coffee break 

14:00-14:15 SUN Xin (YSFRI, China) The effect of aquaculture on sediment carbon sequestration.
14:15-14:30 Jan Vanaverbeke (Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium) Towards assessing the potential for carbon accumulation in offshore wind farm sediments at the Belgian part of the North Sea 
14:30-15:30 discussion of risk assessment. 
15:30-16:00 discussion of new ToRs for the group.