East Coast Shellfish Growers Association June 2024 Newsletter

—Continued from page 14
Shellfish Won’t Fix
Climate Change
Trees tie up carbon for many
years until they die and rot or
get burned. Many are touting
trees as a carbon sink, but forest
fires may be challenging that
concept.
Sequestration refers to tying up
carbon in another form for long
periods of time. Bivalve shell is
composed of calcium carbonate,
and the carbon in shell can
be sequestered for up to tens of
thousands of years. So why is
shell not a sink? For shell to be
considered a sink you would
need to remove more carbon
than it took to make the shell.
Cement ties up tremendous
amounts of carbon around the
world for long periods of time,
but making cement is extremely
energy-intensive and requires the
burning of immense amounts
of fossil fuels, so cement is not a
carbon sink.
For starters, shellfish liberate
a molecule of CO2 for every
molecule of calcium carbonate
they create. Shellfish also use
energy to make shell, and that
requires respiration, which produces
CO2. Some argue that the
CO2 released in respiration is
immediately taken up by algae,
which absorb the CO2 and make
carbohydrates. Depending on
your assumptions, at best the
whole process is a net zero, so
you can’t claim that shellfish are
reducing atmospheric CO2.
Removing shell from the ocean
decreases the alkalinity of the
seawater, which lowers the solubility
of CO2 in seawater. It’s
estimated that roughly a third of
the CO2 produced by burning
fossil fuels has dissolved into the
ocean, but if we lower the alkalinity
of the ocean, it incrementally
pushes that CO2 back into
the atmosphere. I don’t know
what percentage of shell gets returned
to the ocean after we eat
the animals inside, but I suspect
it is a pretty small fraction.
Then there is the question of
scale. Global emissions of CO2
are approximately 37 gigatons
per year. Zavell’s estimates of total
global farmed-shellfish shell
are on the order of 4-7 million
tons produced each year. Using
the higher estimate, and assuming
there is no CO2 produced
in making the shell, the CO2
sequestered in shell represents
only 0.02% of annual emissions.
Doubling global production
would have a negligible impact,
even under an ideal scenario. It
has been argued that if we could
replace 10% of meat consumption
with shellfish, the impact on
carbon emissions would be similar
to pulling 10.8 million cars
off the road (Ray et al. 2019).
I am all for that, but it might
be a hard sell. We have a great
product with a great story to tell,
but let’s not stretch the truth by
making claims that don’t add up.
Notes
1. An Estimate of Carbon Storage
Capabilities from Wild and
Cultured Shellfish in the Northwest
Atlantic and Their Potential
Inclusion in a Carbon Economy.
Zavell et al. 2024, Journal of
Shellfish Research
doi.org/10.2983/035.042.0214
—Continued from page 13
Traceability
We have great stories to tell and
there is solid evidence that this
increases the value of the product.
Traceability will also cut
down on fraud and trademark
abuse, which will go a long way
toward improving customer
trust.
Challenges
Some hardships and challenges
remain for sure. Small producers
and “first receivers” (who need
to create lot codes) will have to
absorb training and software
costs and will need to adopt
new protocols. Change is hard!
Dealers will need to pay for
scanners, software and training.
The various traceability software
companies offered a wide range
of options and their on-boarding
time estimates to get up to
speed varied from 2 hours to
4-6 weeks. One thing everyone
agreed on is that it would be
prudent to engage in traceability
early so that your concerns are
addressed and any regulations
that are developed will fit our
industry.
Hyperlinks
1. www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation-food-and-dietarysupplements/food-safetymodernization-act-fsma
2. www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety-modernization-act-fsma/
food-traceability-list
3. www.federalregister.gov/
documents//2022/11/21/
2022-24417/requirementsfor-additional-traceabilityrecords-for-certain-foods
ECSGA Newsletter Issue 2 June 2024
Page 17