Bottom trawling and the Great Carbon Sink

Ocean Science Radio

The ocean is a vast and powerful carbon sink, absorbing about a quarter of the carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere. That carbon is pulled into the water column and is also buried under the layers of dirt and soil on the ocean floor. But this vital role could be jeopardized by a common fishing practice: bottom trawling. Today we will be talking to Dr. Tricia Atwood, an associate professor of watershed sciences at Utah State University who is also a researcher with the National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas Program, whose team published a paper in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science looking at the CO2 impacts from bottom-trawling. Join us now as we take a deep dive into this silt-shifting practice on a brand new episode of Ocean Science Radio.