A major source of CO2 emissions, previously unaccounted for, has been found

The University of Utah has announced impressive CO2 emissions from bottom trawl fisheries. Previously, this factor was not taken into account in climate modeling.

In trawling, nets dragged along the bottom release carbon from the sediments, which is then converted into CO2. More than half of it is then released into the atmosphere, while the rest remains in the water and acidifies the ocean, damaging marine life.

According to Dr. Trisha Edmund, scientists have known that trawling damages ecosystems, but it is now clear that it also releases carbon that would otherwise have been untouched for millennia.