Dr. Ben Harris, a scientific diver with the Convex Seascape Survey, manually takes sediment core samples from the seabed to measure carbon stored in ocean sediments. The five year project, run with the University of Exeter and Blue Marine Foundation, focuses on continental shelves and how disturbance affects stored carbon. Harris has collected samples in New Zealand, Australia, Jersey and Bermuda, often in extreme conditions. Seabed carbon is a key piece of blue carbon accounting. Knowing how much carbon sits in shelf sediments, and what happens when the seafloor is disturbed, can inform marine protection and climate policy. The article also notes that Bermuda's coral reef system looked healthy but lacked large fish due to past exploitation, showing that carbon data alone does not capture full ecosystem health.
