Contenidos del programa de intervención

Location and time

LOHAFEX706 _{was a joint Indo–German experiment in the Southern Ocean}

with experiments running from January to March 2009. The fertilisation area was a patch of ocean approximately 300 square kilometres in the Southwest Atlantic Sector of the Southern Ocean at around 45S 15W.707 _{It is the most recent large}

scale ocean iron fertilisation experiment at the time of writing.

Experiment

LOHEFEX started under a storm of controversy.708 _{The German Environment}

Ministry requested that the project be halted soon after the research vessel RV Polarstern had left port in South Africa. The reason given was that the experiment was not consistent with the resolution on ocean fertilisation under the CBD which had been passed in May 2008 (as discussed in Chapter Four).709 _As

previously mentioned, the CBD resolution urged that ocean fertilisation activities do not take place, with the exception of small scale scientific research studies within coastal waters, until there is an adequate scientific basis on which to justify such activities.710

705 _{Allsopp, above n 113,21–2. See also: Boyd, above n 96, 2435.} 706 _{LOHA is Hindi for iron, FEX stands for Fertilization Experiment.}

707 _{Folke Mehrtens, ‘Lohafex provides new insights on plankton ecology’ Press Release Alfred Wegener Institute,}

Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Public release date: 24 March 2009.

708 _{Schiermeier, above n 415; Mathew above n 415.}

709 _{Convention on Biological Diversity COP 9 Decision IX/16, Bonn, 19–30 May 2008.} 710 _{Part C – Ocean Fertilization, (4), CBD, COP 9 Decision IX/16 Bonn, 19–30 May 2008.}

185 The German Research Ministry initiated an evaluation of the LOHAFEX

project, seeking advice from independent scientists from countries other than India or Germany. It appeared that the project might contravene the CBD decision as the site for the LOHAFEX experiment was outside ‘coastal waters’.711 _{Two weeks later, following a third party report, the German Research}

Ministry decided that the project would pose minimal damage and allowed it to proceed.712

The in situ iron fertilisation experiments were carried out by a team of scientists from India and Germany. Ten tonnes of dissolved iron was released inside the core of an eddy, a clockwise rotating column of water.713

The fertilised patch of phytoplankton was monitored continuously for 39 days. For the first two weeks the biomass of the phytoplankton doubled, however, the increased grazing pressure from small crustacean zooplankton prevented further growth.714

Findings

The LOHAFEX trial found the ‘despite high growth rates the biomass of non- diatom phytoplankton can be kept in check by grazing pressure of copepods’.715

The fact that copepods increased their feeding in the fertilised patch suggests that the copepods were food-limited in the surrounding waters. Due to the grazing pressure, biomass accumulation and vertical flux of organic carbon was modest, resulting in a net uptake of atmospheric CO2 which was only marginally

different from the fertilised patch.716

711 _{Convention on Biological Diversity COP 9 Decision IX/16 Bonn, 19–30 May 2008.} 712 _{LaMotte, above n 446, 8–9.}

713 _{Maria Grazia Mazzocchi, Humberto E Gonzalez, Pieter Vandromme, Ines Borrione, Maurizio Ribera}

d’Alcala, Mangesh Gauns, Philipp Assmy, Bernhard Fuchs, Christine Klaas, Patrick Martin, Marina Montresor, Nagappa Ramaiah, Wajih Naqvi, Victor Smetacek, ‘A non-diatom plankton bloom controlled by copepod grazing and amphipod predation: Preliminary results from the LOHAFEX iron-fertilization experiment’ (2009) 15-2 Globec International Newsletter 1.

714 _{Dr Wajih Naqvi, co-chief scientist from the National Institute of Oceanography of the Council of}

Scientific and Industrial Research, ‘Lohafex provides new insights on plankton ecology’ Press Release Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.

715 _{Mazzocchi, above n 713, 6.} 716 _Ibid.

Figure 8: LOHAFEX bloom

Image shows the LOHAFEX bloom from NASA Satellite on 14 February 2009. (Source: Courtesy of NASA SeaWiFS http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/SeaWiFS/ )

There was no or only negligible change in the concentrations of gases other than CO2 in the bloom. It was reported that chlorophyll concentrations were in

decline by the end of the experiment and the patch had merged into its surroundings, leaving behind no trace other than a swarm of well-fed amphipods.

In the earlier ocean iron fertilisation experiments, diatoms had dominated the fertilised patch. Diatoms are protected against grazers by their shells of silica, and due to their weight are known to sink readily after blooming. LOHAFEX found that diatoms could not bloom due to limitations of silicic acid, the raw material

187 required for diatom shells, in the water. This was thought to be most likely due

to previous natural algal blooms. It can be concluded, therefore, that as a result of low levels of silicic acid in the northern half of the Southern Ocean, ocean iron fertilisation is unlikely to result in significant removal of CO2 from the

atmosphere. 717

Results

Compared with other open ocean iron fertilisation projects, the results for LOHAFEX were unexpected. LOHAFEX showed that production was stimulated by the addition of iron. However, the accumulation rates of phytoplankton increased for a very short time only (if at all) due to the heavy grazing pressure by zooplankton. The experiment also suggests that iron fertilisation of nutrient-rich waters does not necessarily lead to algal blooms, carbon export and thus CO2 uptake. The state and functioning of the whole

ecosystem plays an essential role. In particular the initial conditions of the plankton assemblage and the amount of silicic acid present in the waters plays an important part in the development of large phytoplankton blooms.

In an interview on ABC Radio on 24 March 2009, LOHAFEX spokesman Dr Victor Smetacek718 _stated:

There’s been hope that one could remove some of the excess carbon dioxide, put it back where it came from, in a sense, because the petroleum we’re burning is originally made by the algae. But our results show this is going to be a small amount, an almost negligible amount.719

Summary

These two trials, SOIREE and LOHAFEX, show that although over the past 10 years there have been many ocean iron fertilisation trials, there is still much to learn. Ten years ago the SOIREE experiment showed promising results for

717 _{Mehrtens, above n 707.}

718 _{Professor of Biological Oceanography, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research.}

719_{ABC Radio – PM ‘Algae study raises doubts about geo-engineered climate solutions’} Tuesday, 24 March, 2009 18:42:00, Reporter: Emily Bourke, ABC Online

ocean fertilisation as a method of exporting carbon to the deep ocean. Ten years later, although the results for LOHAFEX were somewhat unexpected for the scientists involved, it was still a valuable exercise and demonstrates the complexity of the marine ecosystems being manipulated through ocean iron fertilisation. Although there was no carbon export, it showed that there is far more to ocean fertilisation than just replacing a missing nutrient. Other nutrients, seasonality and the presence of grazers all provide an input into the delicate balance of these ecosystems. It also shows that much more research is required before scientists fully understand ocean fertilisation and its effect on these ecosystems.

UREA FERTILISATION EXPERIMIENT Introduction

Ocean fertilisation using urea is less well known that iron fertilisation. The main proponents are the Sydney University’s Ocean Technology Group (OTG) and the technology group Ocean Nourishment Corporation720 _{(ONC). ONC was}

formed to further develop the Ocean Nourishment™ process proposed in 1999.721 _{The main objective was to fertilise the ocean through the release of urea}

or other nutrients. Once the system has been developed, ONC plan to sell area- based licences, allowing suitably qualified organisations to generate carbon credits and grow fish using the ocean nourishment process.722