Cultivate Shellfish to Remediate the Atmosphere

Moore, David; Heilweck, Matthias; Petros, Peter

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-94846-7_2

Cited by 4 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…There is a readily implemented contribution to efforts to regulate climate change by combining two proven special natural talents -the ability of calcifiers to remove carbon from the atmosphere immediately and permanently, and the ability of humans to get things done quickly. We can use the oceans of the planet to navigate our way out of the climate crisis of which we are now so aware [10,27,28].…”

Section: Issue 1: Ocean Acidification Will Have a Harmful Effect On T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the shells represent an average 50% of the animal's mass, total shellfish shell produced globally was 88 million tonnes over 8 years. An average of 11 million tonnes of shell per year [10].…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessments (Lca) Of Bivalve Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So, 11 million tonnes of shell per year is equivalent to 1.32 million tonnes of carbon per year being captured from the atmosphere by current aquaculture activities. [10] point out that global carbon emissions from fossil fuel use were 9.8 billion tonnes in 2014 (equivalent to 35.9 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide) [source: https://www.co2.earth/global-co2-emissions], thus, the carbon captured by world aquaculture is a very small contribution to compensating these emissions. However, these authors also calculated: " … we estimate that 4.84 million tonnes of CO2 per year is being captured, and mineralised, from the atmosphere by current aquaculture activities around the world.…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessments (Lca) Of Bivalve Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these authors also calculated: " … we estimate that 4.84 million tonnes of CO2 per year is being captured, and mineralised, from the atmosphere by current aquaculture activities around the world. In carbon-offset terms, that's equivalent to one million business class return flights between London Heathrow and JFK New York (6 billion miles of flying per year, every year)…" and that a single shellfish farm "… designed to produce 10,000 tonnes of mussels per year … would permanently remove from the atmosphere an annual total of 1,606 metric tonnes of CO2 … [which could] offset 740 return business class tickets LHR-JFK, or offset driving 7,300,000 miles [in a 1.5 l petrol-engine family car]…" [10].…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessments (Lca) Of Bivalve Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Then the market forces might dictate enhancing the scale of production towards a level that removes very significant quantities of carbon from the atmosphere. Moore et al (2022c) [10] put it this way: "…a million mussel farms would permanently remove about 4.5% of the global CO2 emissions in each year. The call for a million mussel farms is by no means an extreme or unrealistic proposition.…”

Section: Moore Et Al (2022c)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Assessment of the Potential Value for Climate Remediation of Ocean Calcifiers in Sequestration of Atmospheric Carbon

Moore

Heilweck

Fears³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Today’s marine calcifiers (coccolithophore algae, Foraminifera [protists], Mollusca, Crustacea, Anthozoa [corals], Echinodermata) remove carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the atmosphere, converting it into solid calcium carbonate (CaCO 3) which is stable for geological periods of time. These organisms could serve as a biotechnological carbon capture and storage mechanism to control climate change. Two criticisms made about this are: (i) ocean acidification has allegedly been shown to cause reduced shell formation in calcifiers; (ii) the calcification reaction that precipitates CaCO 3 crystals into the shells is alleged to return CO 2 to the atmosphere. In this review we assess the evidence concerning such criticisms and find reasons to doubt both. Experiments showing that ocean acidification is damaging to calcifiers have all used experimental pH levels that are not projected to be reached in the oceans until the next century or later; today’s oceans, despite recent changes, are alkaline in pH. Claiming precipitation of CaCO 3 during calcification as a net source of CO 2 to the atmosphere is an oversimplification of ocean chemistry that is true only in open water environments. Living calcifiers do not carry out the calcification reaction in an open water environment in equilibrium with the atmosphere. The chemistry that we know as life takes place on the surfaces of enzymatic polypeptides, within organelles that have phospholipid membranes, contained in a cell enclosed within another phospholipid bilayer membrane specifically to isolate the chemistry of life from the open water environment. Ignoring what is known about the biology, physiology, and molecular cell biology of living organisms, calcifiers of all types especially, leads to erroneous conclusions and deficient advice about the potential for calcifier biotechnology to contribute to atmosphere remediation. Net removal of CO 2 from the atmosphere by calcifiers is only achieved by the CaCO 3 stored in the shell, coccoliths, or foram tests that are left when they die. To capitalise on this requires a change in paradigm towards cultivating calcifiers for their CaCO 3 rather than their meat or other products. We conclude that the world’s aquaculture industries already operate the biotechnology that, with massive and immediate global expansion, can contribute to sustainably controlling atmospheric CO 2 levels at reasonable cost and with several positive benefits in addition to carbon sequestration.

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Section: Issue 1: Ocean Acidification Will Have a Harmful Effect On T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Life Cycle Assessments (Lca) Of Bivalve Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Life Cycle Assessments (Lca) Of Bivalve Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Life Cycle Assessments (Lca) Of Bivalve Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Moore Et Al (2022c)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Assessment of the Potential Value for Climate Remediation of Ocean Calcifiers in Sequestration of Atmospheric Carbon

Moore

Heilweck

Fears³

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

An Assessment of the Potential Value for Climate Remediation of Ocean Calcifiers in Sequestration of Atmospheric Carbon

Moore

Heilweck

Fears³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Today’s marine calcifiers (coccolithophore algae, Foraminifera [protists], Mollusca, Crustacea, Anthozoa [corals], Echinodermata) remove carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the atmosphere, converting it into solid calcium carbonate (CaCO 3) which is stable for geological periods of time. These organisms could serve as a biotechnological carbon capture and storage mechanism to control climate change. Two criticisms made about this are: (i) ocean acidification has allegedly been shown to cause reduced shell formation in calcifiers; (ii) the calcification reaction that precipitates CaCO 3 crystals into the shells is alleged to return CO 2 to the atmosphere. In this review we assess the evidence concerning such criticisms and find reasons to doubt both. Experiments showing that ocean acidification is damaging to calcifiers have all used experimental pH levels that are not projected to be reached in the oceans until the next century or later; today’s oceans, despite recent changes, are alkaline in pH. Claiming precipitation of CaCO 3 during calcification as a net source of CO 2 to the atmosphere is an oversimplification of ocean chemistry that is true only in open water environments. Living calcifiers do not carry out the calcification reaction in an open water environment in equilibrium with the atmosphere. The chemistry that we know as life takes place on the surfaces of enzymatic polypeptides, within organelles that have phospholipid membranes, contained in a cell enclosed within another phospholipid bilayer membrane specifically to isolate the chemistry of life from the open water environment. Ignoring what is known about the biology, physiology, and molecular cell biology of living organisms, calcifiers of all types especially, leads to erroneous conclusions and deficient advice about the potential for biotechnology to contribute to atmosphere remediation. We conclude that the world’s aquaculture industries already operate the biotechnology that, with massive and immediate global expansion, can contribute to sustainably controlling atmospheric CO 2 levels at reasonable cost and with several positive benefits in addition to carbon sequestration.

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An Assessment of the Potential Value for Climate Remediation of Ocean Calcifiers in Sequestration of Atmospheric Carbon

Heilweck,

Moore,

M.D.

et al. 2023

Prime Archives in Environmental Research

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We acknowledge with sincere thanks numerous discussions with Dr Rebecca J. Moore during the preparation of this and other manuscripts. Despite the many improvements resulting from these discussions, the opinions expressed here are those of the listed authors and are not necessarily shared by their advisors.Author Contributions: D.M. was responsible for original draft preparation, M.H. and D.M for review and editing. All authors contributed to the text equally according to their topic specialties. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript; supervision and project administration, D.M.

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Cultivate Shellfish to Remediate the Atmosphere

Cited by 4 publications

References 61 publications

An Assessment of the Potential Value for Climate Remediation of Ocean Calcifiers in Sequestration of Atmospheric Carbon

An Assessment of the Potential Value for Climate Remediation of Ocean Calcifiers in Sequestration of Atmospheric Carbon

An Assessment of the Potential Value for Climate Remediation of Ocean Calcifiers in Sequestration of Atmospheric Carbon

An Assessment of the Potential Value for Climate Remediation of Ocean Calcifiers in Sequestration of Atmospheric Carbon

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