TendOcean Ecosystem Services: Seaweed Cultivation

Our Solution

TendOcean Ecosystem Services: Seaweed Cultivation

Our tagline:

Seaweed farming is not only profitable, but it also absorbs CO2 and reduces ocean acidity.

Our pitch:

We are committed to solving the problem of underproductive oceans. Not long ago the idea of humans being able to impact something as vast as the ocean was quite ridiculous. The problem is that the oceans mix on geological time scales, so the pollution and chemical changes we introduce affect the part of the ocean we are in contact with rather quickly. One might think that because the ocean is so vast, it has such a huge landscape for productivity, but this is also not true. Much of the ocean is a desert, and life competes in the very spaces we impact. But we can intervene. Seaweeds form the base of coastal marine ecosystems, often limited by available substrates to grow on. They are limited to a thin band of the coastline, at just the right depth, where they grow rapidly. We are proposing to create artificial substrates to make that band wider.

Our solution is a system for increasing the density and modularity of seaweed cultivation. We increase density by achieving closer line spacing through careful control of the system geometry and precise component lengths, providing uniform tension among the neighboring lines. With this technology, we then intend to introduce mechanization of planting and harvesting. These improvements will reduce costs significantly, and make it easier to permit and deploy cultivations at scale and in a variety of locations.

But why does this change the world? Can you do anything with all that seaweed? Yes, seaweed is incredible. In addition to improving the ecosystem and growing faster than just about anything else, the cultivation can be harvested, and used for everything from animal feeds, to fertilizers, bioplastics, and non-food-crop biofuels. You could also eat the seaweed, which is a rapidly growing niche market in the US, but significant in other parts of the world. Cultivating seaweeds is complementary to many commercial fishery seasons, would benefit recreational/tourist fishermen, and doesn’t impact “view sheds” by staying relatively out of sight since it is largely underwater. Cultivating seaweed can reverse the impacts of modern industrial society on aquatic ecosystems, and develop a sustainable industry for coastal communities around the world.

Where our solution team is headquartered or located:

The dimensions of the Challenge our solution addresses:

• Restoring and preserving coastal ecosystems
• Building sustainable ocean economies