2024: Evaluating Food Security and Carbon Sequestration Trade-offs of Potential Mesopelagic Fisheries (Environmental Defense Fund)
Joyce Yager is an EDF-Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Associate. The mesopelagic zone (200–1000 meters deep in the ocean) contains a huge amount of the ocean’s biomass. The small fish that live in the mesopelagic zone play a vital role in the biological carbon pump that moves carbon to the seafloor for long-term sequestration. Mesopelagic fish are currently being considered as a new potential source of food for aquaculture, as farmed fish demand is growing and additional food sources are needed to feed carnivorous fish (such as salmon). This project will evaluate the trade-offs between potential disruption to carbon sequestration and human nutrition in commercial exploitation of mesopelagic fish.
Postdoctoral Associate: Joyce Yager
Cornell Advisor: Eugene Won (Cornell CALS/Animal Science)
EDF Advisors: Julia G. Mason, Mattias Cape