Bottom Trawling and Blue Carbon

Just last month the fisheries minister of Belize announced that all forms of trawling will be banned in Belize effective December 31, 2010.

Oceana worked with the government in facilitating the buyout of the existing two trawlers owned and operated by the Northern Fishermen Cooperative Association (NFC). Additional pressure came from UNESCO, which threatened to take the Belize Barrier Reef System off its World Heritage Site list.

My though on this - if the dragging of the nets by the two NFC boats was damaging the seagrass meadows, and thereby impacting the carbon sequestration function of this ecosystem, then...

Could the buyout of bottom trawlers be funded by a blue carbon market or fund?
 

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See also:

Belize Bans Bottom Trawling in Exclusive Economic Zone (Dec. 8, 2010)

http://ca.oceana.org/en/ca/news-media/press-releases/belize-bans-bottom-trawling-in-exclusive-economic-zone

Belize totally bans bottom trawling

http://www.amandala.com.bz/index.php?id=10653

Impacts of Bottom Trawling on Fisheries, Tourism, and the Marine Environment (image courtesy Oceana)

http://na.oceana.org/en/news-media/publications/reports/impacts-of-bottom-trawling-on-fisheries-tourism-and-the-marine-environment