The carbon sequestration in coastal blue carbon (Cb) ecosystems, including mangroves, seagrasses and saltmarshes, was discovered to be useful in mitigating the increasing trend of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission due to climate change.  

In this study, Dr. GAO Yang and his colleagues from Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR) under the Chinese Academy of Science, systematically estimate traditional Cb ecosystem distribution and the associated Cb sequestration rate, and then further quantify the Cb sinks fishery contribution to Cb sequestration in coastal ecosystem due to human activity.  

The results show that the global Cb ecosystem is able to store 10.8 PgC, wherein biomass and soil are able to store 2.13 and 8.68 PgC, respectively. In China, the Cb pools are 162 TgC in mangroves, 67 TgC in saltmarshes and 75 TgC in seagrass, respectivley. The human activity induced global Cb sink fishery on Cb ecosystem is about 26.58–37.6 TgC yr？1, accounting for 30.7%–43.4% of the world's traditional Cb sequestration ecosystem. 

The global Cb sequestration potential reaches up to 86.59 Tg yr？1, while China can explain 1.70% of the world's total Cb sequestration. However, in China, the Cb sequestration due to human activity reaches up to 6.32–7.89 TgC yr？1, accounting for 20.9%–23.7% of global Cb sink fishery. Therefore, it is very important to build the Cb sink fishery measures and monitor system to scientifically evaluate Cb sink fisheries and associated development potential. 

The related study has been published in the journal of Earth-Science Review ( Gao Y, Yu GR*, Yang TT, Jia YL, He NP, Zhuang J. New insight into global blue carbon estimation under human activity in land-sea interaction area: a case study of China. Earth-Science Review, 2016, 159, 36–46).