Carbon dioxide mitigation potential of seaweed aquaculture beds (SABs)

• Published in: Journal of applied phycology Vol. 29; no. 5; pp. 2363 - 2373
• Main Authors: Sondak, Calvyn F. A., Ang, Put O., Beardall, John, Bellgrove, Alecia, Boo, Sung Min, Gerung, Grevo S., Hepburn, Christopher D., Hong, Dang Diem, Hu, Zhengyu, Kawai, Hiroshi, Largo, Danilo, Lee, Jin Ae, Lim, Phaik-Eem, Mayakun, Jaruwan, Nelson, Wendy A., Oak, Jung Hyun, Phang, Siew-Moi, Sahoo, Dinabandhu, Peerapornpis, Yuwadee, Yang, Yufeng, Chung, Ik Kyo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.10.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 22nd International Seaweed Symposium; Algae; Anthropogenic factors; Aquaculture; Australia; Biofuels; Biomass; biomass production; Biomedical and Life Sciences; carbon; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide emissions; Carbon sequestration; China; Coastal zone; coasts; Copenhagen; Drawdown; Ecology; Ecosystem services; Ecosystems; Fossil fuels; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; greenhouse gas emissions; India; Indonesia; industry; Japan; Life Sciences; macroalgae; Malaysia; Mineral nutrients; Mitigation; New Zealand; Nutrient removal; Philippines; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Removal; seaweed culture; Seaweed industry; Seaweeds; South Korea; Thailand; Vietnam; New Zealand; South Korea; Vietnam; China; Japan; Philippines; Malaysia; Australia; Thailand; India; Indonesia; Blue carbon; mitigation; Seaweed aquaculture bed (SAB); Macroalgae; Asian Pacific region; CO; Carbon donor
• ISSN: 0921-8971; 1573-5176
• DOI: 10.1007/s10811-016-1022-1

Seaweed aquaculture beds (SABs) that support the production of seaweed and their diverse products, cover extensive coastal areas, especially in the Asian-Pacific region, and provide many ecosystem services such as nutrient removal and CO 2 assimilation. The use of SABs in potential carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) mitigation efforts has been proposed with commercial seaweed production in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam, and is at a nascent stage in Australia and New Zealand. We attempted to consider the total annual potential of SABs to drawdown and fix anthropogenic CO 2 . In the last decade, seaweed production has increased tremendously in the Asian-Pacific region. In 2014, the total annual production of Asian-Pacific SABs surpassed 2.61 × 10 6  t dw. Total carbon accumulated annually was more than 0.78 × 10 6  t y −1 , equivalent to over 2.87 × 10 6  t CO 2 y −1 . By increasing the area available for SABs, biomass production, carbon accumulation, and CO 2 drawdown can be enhanced. The conversion of biomass to biofuel can reduce the use of fossil fuels and provide additional mitigation of CO 2 emissions. Contributions of seaweeds as carbon donors to other ecosystems could be significant in global carbon sequestration. The ongoing development of SABs would not only ensure that Asian-Pacific countries will remain leaders in the global seaweed industry but may also provide an added dimension of helping to mitigate the problem of excessive CO 2 emissions.