Regenerative Ocean Farming

Reviving Communities Through Restoring the Oceans

By Olivia Lipke

Background

To understand to benefits that ocean farming can have, it’s important to recognize the implications of the current food systems in the United States. About a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide come from the agricultural industry. Many aspects of the industry are unsustainable and have negative impacts on the world’s climate, land, and oceans. For one, farms depend on huge amounts of plastic which end up breaking down into microplastics that contaminate ecosystems. Additionally, the transportation of food contributes to carbon emissions. Perhaps worst of all are petrochemicals, including pesticides and fertilizers, which are produced from oil and gas, and are used in order to produce enough food for the growing population (Perez, 2021).

The main reason why fertilizers are so harmful is because they contain nitrogen, which eventually runs off the land into the oceans. As a result, ecosystems are negatively affected because nitrogen causes huge algal blooms that reduce the oxygen levels in the water (Smith, 2011). It is causing what are known as “dead zones” to spread all along the coasts, areas virtually no species can survive in. Nitrogen is a big concern because it is a polluter 300 times stronger than carbon dioxide. As the aquaculture industry grows, it has begun to adopt similar methods to land agriculture that are both harmful and unsustainable. For example, overfishing threatens nearly 90% of the large fish stocks that feed 3.5 billion people on the planet (Smith, 2011).

There is an understanding in the US that the agricultural and aquacultural industries have negative impacts on the environment (Waycott, 2022). And while this is true, there are solutions. For years, environmentalists have searched for ways to increase the health of the oceans and reverse the damage caused by overfishing, climate change and pollution (Smith, 2011). Along with the environmental concerns, the challenge of climate injustice arises. Coastal communities that depend on fishing are being disproportionally affected by climate change and overfishing (Sutter, 2021). Bren Smith, the co-founder of the non-profit organization called GreenWave, believes he has the solution to address all these problems (Smith, 2011, p. 1).

Figure 1: Diagram showing the basic blueprints of a regenerative ocean farm. Seaweed grows vertically from the floating longlines as well as scallops and mussels growing in nets, with clam and oyster cages on the seafloor.

GreenWave was founded by Bren Smith and Emily Stengel in 2013, and together they have built a global network of farmers, entrepreneurs, and networkers (GreenWave, 2022). They are teaching people how to revive both their ecosystems and their communities’ economies through regenerative ocean farming. This is not a new practice, it has been around for thousands of years and was used by the ancient Egyptians, Romans, Aztecs, and Chinese (Smith, 2011). The design is to grow kelp and other varieties of seaweed vertically from floating longlines six feet under the surface. They also grow scallops and mussels in nets hung from the rope, oysters in cages on the sand floor and clams buried beneath the mud (Lynch, 2019). The goal of this design is to restore the oceans, rather than deplete them. It’s about growing things that don’t need to be fed and that will not swim away (Sutter, 2021). “They simply grow by soaking up ocean nutrients, making it, hands down, the most sustainable form of food production on the planet” (Lynch, 2019). Through ocean farming, communities can expand their food production without increasing carbon emissions (Smith, 2011).

Bren Smith has redefined what it means to protect the oceans. Rather than just leaving these protected areas alone, which he says is “a form of climate denial” (Smith 2021, 13:21), he’s reviving them. “You could do conservation on the entire oceans, and they would still die because you need some activity breathing life back into the oceans” (Smith 2021, 13:22).

Figure 2: Seaweed growing from the ropes in a regenerative ocean farm

Smith had a background in working in the commercial fishing industry until the cod stock crashed and he knew he needed to find a more sustainable way to continue doing what he loved. The work that he is doing now consists of training and supporting regenerative ocean farmers. They do this through their online network which provides farmers with access to tools and the information they need to start a farm. It also connects them to the distributors who will be buying their products and the Kelp Climate Fund, a subsidy that provides funding in return for data that farmers collect revealing carbon and nitrogen removal rates (GreenWave, 2022).

Since 2017, they have trained over 900 farmers and hatchery technicians. Their ten-year goal is to plant 1 million acres of ocean farms by supporting at least 10,000 farmers (GreenWave, 2022). Another important aspect of their mission is to tackle climate injustices. “We can draw down carbon while we lift up communities” (Sutter, 2021, 19:06). Their goal is for under-resourced coastal communities to benefit economically from the growth of this industry. Additionally, they are providing opportunities for people to become leaders through paid mentorships. “At GreenWave, we believe who farms matters” (GreenWave, 2022). Since GreenWave was founded in Connecticut in 2013, over 8,000 people have signed up for their training program. This includes people from within the United States but also from over a hundred other countries world wild.

Reasons for Hope

Regenerative ocean farming has amazing potential to not only reduce carbon emissions but also to restore ecosystems. Oysters have the incredible ability to filter nitrogen out of the water and can filter between 30-50 gallons of water each day. This means that they can reduce nitrogen levels in a habitat by up to twenty percent. Oysters are also capable of absorbing carbon (Smith, 2011). Another carbon absorber is seaweed, which can take in 5x more carbon than land plants (Lynch, 2019). It produces oxygen through photosynthesis, it increases the nutrient levels in the water, grows very quickly and is highly adaptable. In addition, it acts as a habitat for various species, it protects coasts against storm surges (Lynch, 2019), can be used for biofuel and animal feed and is a nutritious food people can eat (Perez, 2021).

The health benefits of seaweed go on and on. It is very low in fat and has “ten times more calcium than milk, eight times more iron than red meat, and more protein than eggs, wheat, or beans” (Perez, 2021, p. 21). It also has antioxidants and compounds that can help prevent heart disease and cancer, vitamins A, B, C, E, and a long list of minerals (Perez, 2021).

One of the most notable aspects of these farms is that they do not emit carbon. In fact, they have a negative carbon footprint, meaning they take more CO2 out of the atmosphere than they emit. They are even better for the environment than land farms that are trying to be more sustainable (Smith, 2011). If just 5% of the U.S. waters were turned into ocean farms, it could produce 50 million jobs, an amount of protein comparable to 2.3 trillion hamburgers, and offset the carbon released from 20 million cars. Furthermore, fossil fuel energy could be entirely replaced with biofuel if 9% percent of the world’s oceans were turned into such farms (Lynch, 2019).

Figure 3: A photo of kelp noodles with basil pesto, an example of the many foods that can be made from seaweed

Insights and Applications

The developing ocean farming industry has potential for growth, and it could be deployed all over the world surrounding the coastlines. There likely would not be much social resistance to this either because they would not disrupt the ocean aesthetic (Sutter, 2021). In addition, with over 10,000 aquatic plant varieties and hundreds of species of oysters, there is a lot of room for people to get creative with what they grow (Lynch, 2019). Chefs are also coming up with more and more foods that can be made from seaweed such as kelp noodles, pickles, and even kelp burgers (Sutter, 2021). There are many opportunities for people to get involved in ocean farming as well as the various markets associated with their products including food, bioplastics, biofuel, fertilizer and more.

It is relatively easy for people to start an ocean farm as it requires much less initial capital than traditional farms (Sutter, 2021). “All you need is $20,000, 20 acres and a boat” (Lynch, 2019). This also makes it easier for these farms to stay locally owned and benefit the communities surrounding them. Just one farm can yield $90,000 to $120,000 each year (Lynch, 2019). It also has the potential to be combined with small-scale fisheries (Waycott, 2022). One of the best ways to support ocean farming is to donate to GreenWave or other similar non-profits. In the end, it comes down to people changing their mindsets about the ocean and getting creative with their innovations (Sutter, 2021).

Date: Fall 2022

Location: New York, New York

Tags: Community Action