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Reply to: Quantifying the carbon benefits of ending bottom trawling

Nature volume 617, pages E3–E5 (2023)Cite this article

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The Original Article was published on 10 May 2023

replying to: J. G. Hiddink et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06014-7 (2023)

In the accompanying Comment, Hiddink et al.1 challenge our estimate2 of the magnitude of seabed carbon remineralized by bottom trawling. However, we think that the conclusions by Hiddink1 are based on incorrect assumptions and that these conclusions lack quantitative support for several of their claims.

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Data availability

Data for Table 2 can be found in the supplementary information of Sala et al.2.

Code availability

R code for Table 2 can be found at GitHub (https://github.com/emlab-ucsb/ocean-conservation-priorities).

References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Watershed Sciences and Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    Trisha B. Atwood & Audra Hinson

  2. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, USA

    Enric Sala, Juan Mayorga, Alan M. Friedlander & Whitney Goodell

  3. Environmental Markets Lab, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Juan Mayorga, Darcy Bradley & Steven D. Gaines

  4. College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    Reniel B. Cabral

  5. IFREMER, Unité Halieutique de Manche et mer du Nord, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France

    Arnaud Auber

  6. Changing Ocean Research Unit, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    William Cheung & Juliano Palacios-Abrantes

  7. Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Francesco Ferretti

  8. Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, Kāne‘ohe, HI, USA

    Alan M. Friedlander & Whitney Goodell

  9. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Cristina Garilao

  10. National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Benjamin S. Halpern

  11. Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Benjamin S. Halpern

  12. Albert Ludwigs University, Freiburg, Germany

    Kristin Kaschner

  13. Quantitative Aquatics, Philippine Office, Los Baños, The Philippines

    Kathleen Kesner-Reyes

  14. MARBEC, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Fabien Leprieur & David Mouillot

  15. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA

    Jennifer McGowan & Hugh P. Possingham

  16. Marine Conservation Institute, Seattle, WA, USA

    Lance E. Morgan

  17. Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science CBCS, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Hugh P. Possingham

  18. Dynamic Planet, Washington, DC, USA

    Kristin D. Rechberger

  19. Ocean Frontiers Institute, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Boris Worm

  20. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Jane Lubchenco

Authors
  1. Trisha B. Atwood
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  21. Juliano Palacios-Abrantes
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  22. Hugh P. Possingham
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  25. Jane Lubchenco
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Contributions

T.B.A, J.M. and E.S. led the writing of the first draft. The other authors contributed to the ideas and writing of the reply. C. Costello is supportive of the Reply, but did not feel he had the technical expertise in biogeochemistry to contribute as an author.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Trisha B. Atwood.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

Model comparisons of trawled validation sites using different k values and natural fluxes to estimate CO2 efflux.

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Atwood, T.B., Sala, E., Mayorga, J. et al. Reply to: Quantifying the carbon benefits of ending bottom trawling. Nature 617, E3–E5 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06015-6

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