Ocean Startups Are Changing Conservation Faster Than Science Alone

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The next breakthrough in ocean

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conservation might not

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come from a university.

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It might come from a startup. Not because

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science isn't important,

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because startups are built to

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take ideas and actually put them into the

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real world. And right now,

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that's the part we're missing.

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This is the How to Protect the Ocean

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podcast where we break down ocean

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science, policy, and

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solutions so that you can actually

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understand what's working

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and how to be a part of it. So

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hit that follow button right now so you

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don't miss tomorrow's

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episode. We're covering

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ocean businesses, businesses that are out

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to scale solutions for

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the ocean all week. At the

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end of the week on Friday, we have an

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interview with EarthX CEO

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Peter Semmick talking about the

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EarthX conference where you're going to

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find a lot of ocean

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startups, a lot of ocean businesses

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that are already in practice that are

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looking to find solutions.

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So check it out on Friday and

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don't forget to follow so you don't miss

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any other episode. For

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decades, ocean conservation

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has been driven by governments, by NGOs,

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by universities, and

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those institutions are very

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critical to the process. They give a

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science, they shape policy, but they are

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not built for speed.

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They are built for accuracy, and that

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creates a gap because

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discovering a solution is very

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different to scaling one for protection.

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That's where startups come in. They take

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ideas and ask a different question.

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Can this work in the real world and can

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it scale? If you're new to the show and

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you want to understand

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how ocean solutions actually scale, then

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make sure that you follow how

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to protect the ocean podcast

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so you don't miss any of the future

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episodes. So hit that follow button right

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now. All right, let's take

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coral Vita for an example. Traditionally,

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coral restoration

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happens underwater. It's slow,

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it's expensive, and it struggles to keep

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up with warming oceans. Coral Vita

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changed the model. They grow

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corals on land and in controlled

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environments. That allows them to grow

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corals 50 times faster,

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select heat tolerant corals, and scale

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production far beyond traditional

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methods. Then they transplant

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those corals back onto reefs. But here's

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where it really matters. They built a

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business. They partner

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with tourism operators

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who depend on the reefs, governments

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protecting coastlines, and insurance

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companies that recognize

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reefs reduce storm damage, which I've

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talked about so many times

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on this podcast. This turns

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coral restoration into something that can

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scale globally, not just one project.

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It's an actual service.

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Let's talk carbon removal in the ocean.

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There's a company called Running Tide.

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They're working on

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ocean-based carbon removal.

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The idea? Grow kelp that absorbs carbon.

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Then sink it deep in the ocean, locking

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that carbon away long term.

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This falls under ocean carbon dioxide

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removal. And according to the IPCC, we

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likely need carbon

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removal to meet climate targets.

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But this approach is controversial.

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Because the ocean is complex, we don't

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fully understand the

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long term impact. Still,

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it's getting funded because it fits into

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carbon markets. And when

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something fits and when something

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connects to markets, it has a chance to

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scale. Now, I'm not saying

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that this is going to work. I'm

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not saying that this is probably good for

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the ocean. It may not be,

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but at least we're developing

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these ideas. If there were pilot studies

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that were stuck in academia this entire

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time, a lot of these

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companies may not be able to get this

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going and find out if it actually works

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or if it doesn't work. Now, of course,

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there's always advantages and

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disadvantages to this approach and I

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fully understand those,

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but this is just one idea

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where we can really think about, hey,

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does actually this carbon sinking and

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carbon removal actually work when we

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think about it at this scale and at this

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with this ability to use kelp to do that.

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Think about the video that I

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put up this week on Sargasm

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that probably came out today as you're

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going to listen to this. Sargasm is an

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algae that grows really big.

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It just basically suppresses beaches and

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it just smothers beaches in

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high tourist areas. It stinks.

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People don't like it. It can affect

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people with breathing problems and it

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takes a long time to remove and is hard

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to inexpensive to remove.

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Imagine being able to sink something like

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Sargasm to be able to remove carbon.

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That's something that's a key

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identifier in carbon removal. Whether it

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will work or not, whether

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it's good for the ocean or not,

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time will tell and these experiments with

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businesses as partnerships will be able

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to help. Startups bring something

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conservation has struggled with.

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Speed. They test faster. They adapt

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faster and they scale faster. They don't

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necessarily wait till

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you have peer reviewed publications that

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are done two years down the road that are

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published two years down the road.

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They want to know six months from now

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whether this idea will work. If it

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doesn't, they're going

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to move on. If it works,

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they're going to move forward. If it's

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good for the ocean, they might move

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forward. If it's bad for the ocean,

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they may move forward too. That's where

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we have to be careful with

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some of these startups. However,

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the point is they move fast and that

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matters because the ocean is changing

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fast. We are seeing

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marine heat waves, rapid

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biodiversity loss, overfishing pressures,

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increasing pollution,

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solutions that need to move as

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solutions need to move as quickly, just

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as quickly as these

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problems are hitting the ocean.

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And when the startups find something that

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works, they can expand

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globally in years, not decades.

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But let's be clear. Not every setup

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succeeds. Some fail,

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some over promise and some create

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unintended consequences. Like just think

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about anything that has to do with deep

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sea mining right now.

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There is a big push to do deep sea

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mining, but we have no

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idea the effects on the ocean.

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This is why science still matters and

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regulation still matters. This isn't

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about replacing traditional

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conservation. It's about complimenting it

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with speed, with funding and with a

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different mindset. Because right now

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we don't just need ideas.

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We need ideas that actually spread and we

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need to implement those

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ideas as quickly as possible.

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And that's the episode for today.

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If you like this type of information, you

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want to know more about businesses that

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find solutions and you

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have a business that has

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an ocean solution or you know of one that

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has a notion solution,

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let us know in the comments by going to

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speak up for blue dot com forward slash

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feedback that speak up for blue dot com

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forward slash feedback. I want to hear

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what you have to say either by voicemail

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or you can type it in.

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I would love to hear what you have to say

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because this is the

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start of a conversation

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and I would love for you to continue that

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with me and with others. And I

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know with podcasting on audio

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it's really difficult to do a comment. If

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you're on Spotify and you want to

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comment, please do so.

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But if you're not and you want to comment

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and you want to have feedback, please go

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to speak up for blue dot

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com forward slash feedback

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because you know what the next big

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breakthrough may not be it

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may not come from a paper,

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but it might just come from a company

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trying to solve a problem

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at scale and I want to find what those

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those businesses are what that company is

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and I want to tell it I want to talk to

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them on the podcast at some point. So I

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want to thank you so much for joining me

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on today's episode of the

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how to protect the ocean

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podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lew and

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have a great day. We'll talk to you next

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time and happy conservation.