Carbon Sequestration Potential of Shellfish30 November -0001 As
the global average temperature increases and CO2 within the
ocean begins to reach saturation the ability of the ocean to
absorb carbon will alter significantly, writes J. P. Hickey,
School of Natural and Built Environs, University of South
Australia. At some point in the future removing carbon from the
ocean may need to be considered. One method for achieving the
removal of carbon from the ocean would be through the ancient
practice of shellfish farming. Using ‘plate’ oyster stocking
density, shellfish sequestration was competitive with some plant
species such as Eucalyptus porosa, but was eclipsed by other
species such as Eucalyptus socialis. Taking the ‘spat’ stocking
density as the starting point it can be seen that an oyster farm
as a whole does sequester a large amount of carbon per year but
this does not necessarily equate to a per hectare figure. An
independent assessment of the shellfish industry would be
required to determine the extent