Marine Permaculture

Kelp forests are disappearing around the world.

Global warming has heated the ocean surface so much that the natural cycle known as ‘upwelling’ – where offshore winds circulate the seas and bring nutrient-rich cold waters from deep below – is failing. Without natural upwelling, marine ecosystems and life are dying, which in turn threatens life on the planet.

>90%

of natural seaweed forests have been lost off the coast of California and Tasmania

3bn

people rely on the oceans for their primary source of protein

THE OPPORTUNITY

From deforestation
to Seaforestation.

Recreated upwelling

Marine permaculture mimics nature’s upwelling, recreating by artificial means the conditions by which deep, cold, nutrient-rich water is drawn upwards to grow and feed kelp and other marine life near the surface

Renewable energy

Marine permaculture arrays (MPAs) run on nature’s own endogenous energy sources – wave, wind and marine-solar power – making this technology clean, natural and sustainable

Restored circulation

Once the MPA has helped the ocean water regain its natural rhythm of overturning circulation, kelp grows and seaweed forests reappear.

From Japan to Tasmania, from the USA to South Africa, we have a challenge and opportunity to create this beacon of kelp forests with their enormous biodiversity.

Dr Brian von Herzen

Founder

OUR MISSION

From degeneration
to regeneration.

Subsistence farmers in coastal areas rely heavily on the production of seaweed, but the seaweed industry is inherently unreliable at a local level. Crop yields are irregular, crop insurance is non-existent, and climate change-related marine heatwaves can wipe out entire seaweed crops in a matter of weeks. Marine Permaculture has the power to limit the damage of marine heatwaves, thereby making seaweed-dependent communities more climate change-proof by boosting crop yields and enabling year-round cultivation.

For the industry this offers small island states the chance to become in effect big ocean states in terms of seaweed production. Our work in the Philippines has already proved the success of this model.

OUR MISSION

From shutdown
to Drawdown.

By taking Marine Permaculture offshore and establishing large-scale open-ocean cultivation of seaweed forests, we can restore life to ocean regions shut down by global warming and draw down significant amounts of carbon at the same time.

Scaling the cultivation of kelp can help:

Offshore: Regenerate our ocean ecosystems and restore marine life, from tiny forage fish to apex predators

Onshore: Provide natural food, feed, fuel, fertilizer and fibre for the 9 billion humans likely to inhabit the planet by 2040

Draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sink it safely deep down in the ocean for centuries

Marine Permaculture can also reverse coral bleaching – and quickly

THE TECHNOLOGY

Improving livelihoods
and the seaweed industry.

Seaweed has always been produced at too small a scale, too close to the shore, by too few countries. We’re developing the technology that will support the seaweed industry of the future.

Marine Permaculture can produce kelp on a huge scale, far out to sea, well out of the way of shipping and el niños, and where it has plenty of space and sunlight to grow, sustainably and naturally, all year round. So how does it work?

>$1

When fully scaled, marine
permaculture will cost less
than $1 pmsq

10b

Marine Permaculture has the potential to provide 200kg of seaweed/protein per person per year for 10 billion people.

Giant kelp can grow up to 50cm per day, and reach 60m in length, making it the fastest growing plant on the planet.

Kelp forests can fix 3000 tonnes of carbon per square KM - that’s more than tropical rainforests!

OUR JOURNEY

An overnight success
a decade in the making.

Between 2009 and 2013, focusing on the need to reverse seaweed decline, we tested our pioneering upwelling technology with the University of Hawaii, and successfully demonstrated the production of algae. Then from 2015 to 2018 we successfully tested nearshore MPAs in the Philippines and Tasmania. Since then we’ve been working on scaling MPA kelp production offshore, identifying how much we can produce per year, sustainably, with the aim of scaling up to 100+hectares.

Volunteer

Whether you’re a blockchain engineer or a Mailchimp expert, a seaweed specialist or a social-media strategist, we need your help.

Volunteer

Invest

With your investment we can unlock the path to commercial-scale financeable Marine Permaculture regenerative projects.

Invest

Donate

Your donation can help vanishing ecosystems thrive, help seaweed farmers and fishermen feed their families and sustain growing populations.

Donate

Macroalgae have the potential to transform the plight of our oceans, helping regenerate life in a sustainable way. We can develop carbon handprints to undo our carbon footprints.

Dr Brian von Herzen

Founder of The Climate Foundation

INVEST IN MARINE PERMACULTURE

This is the dawn of the seaweed revolution

If you’re thinking of somewhere to invest your ecosystem dollars, kelp forests are the most productive ecosystems on the planet. A 1km-size MP Array, at a cost of less than $1M, will achieve commercial payback within 2-4 years. We’re able to offer a franchise model for Marine Permaculture to transform the economies of ocean states the world over. And if a single island can manage 100 MP Arrays, this can in effect turn small island states into big ocean states. We need investors to invest in Marine Permaculture technology, and put in the private equity and lending to enable small countries around the world to help sustain their populations with Marine Permaculture.

graphic by Dakota Corbin

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