A paper published in Nature refutes the findings of a paper by Sala et al, 2021 on the amount of CO₂ released from the seabed by bottom trawling. The paper made significant headlines around the world as it equated the carbon released by bottom trawling to be of a similar magnitude to the CO₂ created by the global airline industry.

Questioning whether the estimates in the paper were realistic, Hiddink et al., reviewed 49 other studies on the measured CO₂ differences before and after trawling, and the findings were varied, with 60% of the papers finding no significant effect, 29% finding lower organic carbon and 10% finding more. If the findings of Sala et al were correct, surely these massive and significant numbers would be reflected in these studies?

Hiddink argues that the Sala paper has confounded the fresh carbon in the top layer, which would be quickly released by natural processes in any case, with the much less reactive carbon stored in the deeper sediment. As the surface layer carbon will be converted to CO₂ in any case, assuming it is affected by trawling makes no sense, and massively inflates the estimated CO₂ emissions.

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To access the paper published in Nature click here