Performance of fishery carbon sink of oyster aquaculture (mainly Crassostrea hongkongensis) in Guangxi, China: A long-term (2003–2022) analysis

Abstract

Fishery carbon sink (FCS) is a concept of promoting the absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) by ocean through enhancing the biological process in fishery resources, and then removing carbon from water body through harvesting aquatic fishery resources. Among marine organisms, bivalves are one of the seafood with high potential in developing FCS. Although the FCS of China bivalve aquaculture has been estimated, these studies were rough estimation without specified contribution of different bivalve species. In this context, based on 20 years data, this study was conducted to evaluate the FCS performance of oyster, especially Crassostrea hongkongensis (accounted for 30% of oyster production in China) farmed in Guangxi, China. The results of this study revealed that the oyster aquaculture plays an increasing role in FCS, especially in 2010 and onward. The oyster aquaculture industry in Guangxi removed about 0.05 million tons (average) of carbon from the sea every year through FCS, and is expected to remove more than 0.07 million tons of carbon from the sea in future. The results of this study not only can fill in the knowledge gap on the FCS of oyster aquaculture in Guangxi, China, but also can provide a guideline to study the FCS of other bivalve species in different regions.