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Groundbreaking International Blue Carbon Initiative
What is Blue Carbon
Blue Carbon refers to coastal vegetation such as salt marsh grasses, eelgrass and other seagrass that sequesters or takes in carbon dioxide (CO2). This reduces the amount of CO2 in the atmostphere and helps to limit global climate change.
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Our Initiative
Project Watershed in cooperation with the The Estuary Working Group is doing research to learn more about how salt marsh and eelgrass beds in our local Estuary contribute to the uptake and storage of carbon from the atmosphere.
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Fact Sheet & Reports
BC Fact Sheet
Efforts in Blue Carbon, Sea Grass, Kelp, and Salt Marsh Restoration Blue Carbon and Estuaries in the Pacific Northwest
Blue Carbon refers to the long-term storage of carbon in sediments underlying marine and aquatic plants. The sea grass/eelgrass (Zostera marina) and salt marsh habitats are known to sequester and store carbon at very high levels compared to vegetation on land. The Comox Valley Project Watershed Society has developed a community-based protocol to allow coastal organizations in the Salish Sea to assess and identify Blue
Carbon opportunities in their local estuary. We developed a method to map eelgrass and salt marsh with minimal technical expertise yet provide very accurate results.
We hypothesized that carbon sequestration is influenced by local geography and hydrology so that different areas of the estuary sequesters carbon at different rates and much of the carbon associated with eelgrass plant material is carried out of the estuary and deposited elsewhere. These factors should be considered when selecting an area to carry out Blue Carbon projects and eelgrass habitat restoration.
Empirical observations suggest that during storms and heavy wave action sloughed eelgrass may become buried under sand/silt above the high tide line, and hydrological assessments and observations on secluded shorelines have revealed major dumps of eelgrass detritus. We have initiated a pilot study sampling sediments from shoreline and other areas in the estuary to assess sea grass DNA distribution. We tested for the presence of a Z. marina DNA signature in shoreline sediments and core samples taken from various areas.
Final Report to NAPECA
The K’ómoks and Squamish Estuaries: A Blue Carbon Pilot Project
Final Report to North American Partnership for Environmental Community Action (NAPECA)
Grant 2014-1362
Comox Valley Project Watershed Society
Christine Hodgson, M.Sc. and Angela Spooner, M.Sc. April 2016
Blue Carbon Sequestration Thesis
Blue carbon sequestration potential in Zostera marina eelgrass beds of the K’omoks Estuary, British Columbia.
Spooner, A.M., 2016.