EPA and New England Aquarium spotlight the sunken treasure of Blue Carbon in climate resilience
Aquarium temporary installation highlights collaborative research and critical carbon-capturing coastal environments of seagrass meadows and salt marshes
BOSTON (Feb. 8, 2024) - Yesterday, leaders from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New England Aquarium gathered together to shine a spotlight on the critical carbon-capturing environments of seagrass meadows and salt marshes, known as Blue Carbon, in sequestering and storing carbon.
The largest quantities of sequestered carbon in New England can be found in salt marshes, which is a habitat type at great risk due to sea level rise and coastal development. The EPA report on "Blue Carbon Reservoirs from Maine to Long Island, NY" documents and maps the existence and status of blue carbon sequestering environments along the northeastern coastal areas of the United States. It is the result of collaboration between 29 different scientists from a host of different agencies, universities, and non-profits that made up the New England Blue Carbon Inventory Workgroup.
"These habitats accumulate large quantities of carbon, and can store it for centuries if left intact," said EPA New England Regional Administrator David W. Cash. "If we lose those habitats, and their capacity to remove carbon, we also lose our first line of defense against coastal flooding, which often affects disadvantaged communities first and worst. We are very excited that this new installation will help thousands of visitors to the New England Aquarium to learn about an important climate-protecting ecosystem right off our coastline."
"As a Boston resident who lives close to the harbor and as avid scuba diver, I am keenly aware of the impacts that climate change has on our oceans," said Reverend Mariama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space for the City of Boston. "Our oceans are absorbing so much of the carbon that we put in the atmosphere, and it is causing great damage to our sea animals and plants. I am excited that both the EPA's report and the Aquarium's exhibit are working to engage us all in the effort to protect the oceans from additional damage."
EPA's Blue Carbon report spurred a new, temporary installation at the New England Aquarium, which showcases the collaborative research led by EPA to map coastal blue carbon habitats from Maine to New York. The installation provides an accessible and concise overview of important scientific research that documents critical habitat for New England coastal communities that also provides significant climate benefits by capturing and storing carbon.
"Blue carbon habitats have the power to help combat climate change, while serving as critical hubs for marine biodiversity. Preserving and restoring blue carbon habitats supports marine species like sea turtles, fish, and shellfish that rely on them for food sources or nurseries, while also naturally capturing carbon, reducing flooding, and providing other important benefits. The Aquarium is pleased to partner with the EPA to educate guests about blue carbon habitats and the need to protect them for future generations," said Dr. Letise LaFeir, Chief of Conservation and Stewardship at New England Aquarium.
Blue Carbon Facts:
Blue carbon is the term used to describe carbon stored in coastal and marine salt marshes, seagrass meadows, and mangrove forests. These aquatic habitats are much more efficient at accumulating and sequestering carbon than terrestrial habitats. An acre of forest on land will have less sequestered carbon in its soil than the equivalent acre of seagrass, salt marsh, or mangrove.
The Blue Carbon report indicates that the geographic area from Maine to Long Island has an estimated 218,222 acres of eelgrass meadows and salt marsh, which are estimated to provide a reservoir of 7,523,568 megagrams of blue carbon. Using the EPA greenhouse gas equivalency calculator, this quantity of stored carbon is equivalent to:
- The emissions from 5,994,024 passenger vehicles driven in one year.
- The burning of 30,521,000,000+ pounds of coal.
- The emissions associated with the energy use of 3,474,000 homes for a year.
- The emissions offset by the operation of 7,498 wind turbines for a year.
- The quantity of carbon accumulated in one year in 32,646,000 acres of upland forest.
Background:
During the 2017 Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premier (pdf) , the management of "blue carbon resources to preserve and enhance their existing carbon reservoirs" was identified as a possible regional climate change action to mitigate and reduce greenhouse gases.
In June 2020, EPA New England initiated an effort to establish a baseline of New England's blue carbon inventory. Working with New England state and federal (USGS and USDA) agencies, academic experts, and non-governmental organizations and utilizing a contract with the Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC), datasets of New England's current and historic eelgrass meadows and salt marsh habitats and marine soil cores were identified and entered into an interactive map on the Northeast Ocean Data Portal. Soil organic carbon stocks within these marine habitats were also used to calculate blue carbon stocks. The joint effort has been detailed in the "Blue Carbon Reservoirs from Maine to Long Island NY" Report (pdf) .
Learn more:
Learn more about Blue Carbon in New England, including EPA's 2023 report on a multi-year study to document and map the existence and status of blue carbon sequestering environments along northeastern coastal areas of the United States: https://www.epa.gov/raine/blue-carbon-new-england
Follow along, and learn more about how we are protecting human health and the environment, funding opportunities in your community, regulatory actions, opportunities to #BeEPA and more on EPA New England’s newly launched Instagram account: @epa_newengland.
