Exploring Shetland's Blue Carbon Habitats

As climate change and human activities continue to impact marine ecosystems, detailed habitat mapping has become essential for effective conservation and marine planning. This project focuses on sublittoral blue carbon habitats, such as kelp forests and maerl beds, which play a key role in capturing and storing carbon. By using high-resolution spatial data and ecological modelling, the project creates locally tailored maps that address the limitations of national-scale datasets.

The project team brought experience from previous work, including habitat surveys and benthic habitat modelling, as well as the authorship of the 2024 Net Zero Policy Brief for Shetland Marine Habitats, which highlighted the need for locally driven, high-resolution blue carbon assessments.

Project Aims:

To assess the current and potential extent, scale and distribution of blue carbon sublittoral habitats (seagrass, macroalgae, biogenic reefs and benthic sediment) in the Shetland Islands by:

• reviewing the current spatial extent and distribution of each blue carbon habitat,
• modelling the potential extent and distribution of these habitats,
• estimating blue carbon stock, storage rates, and production for each habitat type, using both observed (mapped) extents and modelled (predicted) distributions.

Pathways for carbon capture and storage by sublittoral blue carbon habitats in the Shetland Islands.

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