February 8, 2024 — As states across New England rush to meet greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, a massive carbon reservoir sits just below the tide: reed marshes and seagrass beds.
Scientists call these coastal habitats “blue carbon,” because the plants, and importantly, the sediment underneath them, can sequester a lot of carbon — several times more than a terrestrial forest, for example.
At least 7.5 million metric tons of carbon are held beneath New England’s salt marshes and eelgrass meadows, tall grasses that grow beneath the water, according to a first-of-its-kind report published by the US Environmental Protection Agency last year.
The EPA’s findings were highlighted at an event celebrating a new temporary exhibit at the New England Aquarium on Wednesday. Massachusetts has by far the most blue carbon habitats in New England — more than 112,000 acres, or about half of the region’s total salt marshes and seagrass beds.