2 Assessment of Marine Carbon Storage and Sequestration Potential in the Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region (Including Within Marine Protected Areas): Executive Summary for Policymakers This report was commissioned by WWF, The Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB to assess the extent, scale, distribution and potential of the current blue carbon sinks in the region of water known as the Irish Sea and Welsh C. [...] The approach follows that of successful and widely used audits of carbon storage and sequestration processes, primarily the review of Scotland’s blue carbon stores (Burrows et al., 2014) and more recently the reports of the assessment of carbon capture and storage in the English North Sea Region (Burrows et al., 2021), the English Channel and Western Approaches Region (Burrows et al., 2024a) and S. [...] 2.1 Environmental setting of the Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region In this section, blue carbon habitats are described and reviewed in terms of their carbon production, sequestration and storage capacities, first across all regions of the UK and then in the context of the Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region. [...] The region discussed in this report includes the Northern Irish coast, the entire Welsh coast, part of the English coast (from a small region of the Cheshire coast to the Cumbrian coast up to the border of Scotland) and the self-governed Isle of Man Territorial Seas coastline. [...] The marine boundary of the territorial waters surrounding the Isle of Man shares its borders with the territorial waters of Wales to the south, Scotland to the north, Northern Ireland to the west and England to the east.
- Pages
- 89
- Published in
- United Kingdom
Table of Contents
- Assessment of Marine Carbon Storage and Sequestration Potential in the Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region (Including Within Marine Protected Areas): Executive Summary for Policymakers 4
- Main Findings 4
- 1 Introduction to the UK Blue Carbon Assessment 11
- 1.1 Background and rationale 11
- 1.2 Project objectives 12
- 1.3 GIS methods 13
- 1.3.1 Data sources for habitats and marine protected areas (MPAs) 14
- 1.3.2 Carbon stores in MPAs 16
- 1.3.3 Carbon accumulation from habitat-specific assimilation rates in MPAs 16
- 2 Blue Carbon Ecosystems of the Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 17
- 2.1 Environmental setting of the Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 17
- 2.1.1 Countries and coastlines included in this report 17
- 2.1.2 The Welsh coastline 17
- 2.1.3 The Northern Ireland marine area 17
- 2.1.4 The Isle of Man 17
- 2.1.5 England 17
- 2.2 Habitat extent and distribution 18
- 2.3 Water column processes 19
- 2.4 Intertidal and subtidal macroalgae 20
- 2.4.1 Intertidal species 20
- Background and UK context 20
- Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 21
- 2.4.2 Kelp 22
- Background and UK context 22
- Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 22
- 2.4.3 Fate of macroalgal detritus 24
- 1 n refers to the number of data points used to calculate mean values, standard deviation (SD) and standard error (SE). 25
- 2.4.4 Maerl 25
- Background and UK context 25
- Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 26
- 2.5 Saltmarsh 28
- 2.5.1 Background and UK context 28
- 2.5.2 Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 29
- 2.5.3 Carbon storage 30
- 2.6 Seagrass beds 31
- 2.6.1 Background and UK context 31
- 2.6.2 Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 33
- 2.6.3 Carbon storage 35
- 2.7 Biogenic reefs 36
- 2.7.1 Blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) beds 36
- Background and UK context 36
- Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 36
- 2.7.2 Horse mussel (Modiolus modiolus) beds 37
- Background and UK context 37
- Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 37
- 2.7.3 Native oyster (Ostrea edulis) reefs 38
- Background and UK context 38
- Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 38
- 2.7.4 Cold-water coral (Desmophyllum pertusum) reefs 39
- Background and UK context 39
- Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 39
- 2.7.5 Sabellaria reefs 39
- Background and UK context 39
- Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 39
- 2.7.6 Summary of parameters used for carbon contributions of biogenic reefs 40
- 2.8 Sediments 41
- 2.8.1 Background and UK context 41
- 2.8.2 Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 41
- 2.8.3 Carbon stores in seabed sediments 42
- 2.8.4 Sediment thickness and carbon accumulation 45
- 3 Carbon Stores and Accumulation Rates Across the Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region and its Marine Protected Areas 50
- 3.1 Carbon stores across the Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region 50
- 3.2 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) 50
- 3.2.1 Habitat extents within MPAs 54
- 3.2.2 Visualising patterns of stores and accumulation rates across MPAs 55
- 3.2.3 Carbon stores in the Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region’s MPAs 55
- 3.2.4 Rates of carbon accumulation across the Irish Sea and Welsh Coast Region’s MPAs 55
- 3.3 Ecosystem-scale carbon budget 61
- 3.3.1 Organic carbon (OC) 62
- 3.3.2 Inorganic carbon (IC) 63
- 4 Case Study: The Isle of Man Territorial Seas 64
- 4.1 Introduction 64
- 4.2 Active blue carbon research in the Isle of Man Territorial Seas 66
- 4.2.1 Blue carbon seabed habitats in the Isle of Man Territorial Seas 66
- 4.2.2 Seagrass 67
- 4.2.3 Kelp beds 68
- 4.2.4 Saltmarsh 70
- 4.2.5 Sediments within the Isle of Man Territorial Seas 71
- 4.3 Carbon storage and sequestration 71
- 4.4 Risks and opportunities 72
- 4.4.1 MPA management 72
- 4.4.2 Fishing activities 72
- 4.4.3 Anchoring and mooring 74
- 5 References 75
- 6 Glossary 85
- Annex 1. Sources for Habitat Data 87