Methodology for Improving Fisheries Management to Increase Organic Carbon Storage in Deep-aquatic Systems

The proposed new methodology aims to quantify the increase of organic carbon removals in deep aquatic, oceanic, and lake system sediments due to an increase in fish and related plankton biomass from avoided industrial trawling.

The methodology idea note was rejected by Verra, as per Section 3.1.6(3) of the VCS Methodology Development and Review Process, v4.3 (PDF). The decision was based on:

• Uncertain expected mitigation potential due to high uncertainty with carbon transport associated with the life cycle analysis of the carbon fluxes related to the marine food web and the fate of carbon along the food web.
• Limited or lack of science, including the necessary models and observing technologies, to support carbon credit generation based on the carbon fluxes related to marine fauna as a carbon sink.
• The potential unmitigable risk with overestimation in carbon removals and uncertainty in the ability to manage fisheries dynamics for climate mitigation. Managing and measuring this carbon sequestration pathway remains a substantial challenge. Marine fisheries are poorly constrained and require expanding the capacity of policymakers and governments to assess, monitor, and account for the climate mitigation and adaptation value of these ecosystems.