High Seas Fisheries May Drastically Impact Carbon Emissions

Do you like tuna? What about marlin or swordfish? These fish can all be caught on the high seas and now, scientists are claiming that these fisheries should rethink where they fish. A new report reveals that fish and aquatic life living in the high seas are more valuable as a carbon sink than as food, and should be better protected.

The high seas are defined as an area more than 200 nautical miles from any coast and outside of national jurisdiction. Only one percent of fish caught annually are exclusively found there, yet this area represents enormous potential when it comes to carbon capture.

"Countries around the world are struggling to find cost effective ways to reduce their carbon emissions," said Rashid Sumaila, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We've found that the high seas are a natural system that is doing a good job of it for free."

The researchers calculated the economic value of the carbon stored by aquatic life in the high seas by applying prices, which include the benefits of mitigating the costs of climate change, to the annual quantity of carbon absorbed. In the end, the scientists found that fish and aquatic life remove about 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. That's a service valued at about $148 billion. This dwarfs the mere $16 billion paid for the 10 million tons of fish caught on the high seas annually.

"Keeping fish in the high seas gives us more value than catching them," said Sumaila. "If we lose the life in the high seas, we'll have to find another way to reduce emissions at a much higher cost."

That's not to say that fisheries will be shut down any time soon. However, the report does highlight the importance of preserving fish stocks and creating sustainable fisheries. Currently, there's a huge problem of overfishing, which could be contributing to the rising carbon emissions. By taking steps to keep fish stocks at higher levels, fisheries could go a long way toward lowering carbon emissions and also creating sustainable fisheries for the future. In addition, because only one percent of fish caught annually are exclusively found on the high seas, it might be in the best interests of everyone to close fishing in this area.