Breakthru Way to Farm the Oceans

 GreenWave's Regenerative Ocean Vertical Farming

                             Source:  GreenWave& Bren Smith

A New Green Wave to Fight Climate Change

GreenWave, a sustainable undersea farming technology company founded by fisherman Bren Smith, has developed a breakthrough technology called vertical underwater farming or regenerative ocean farming.  The technique promises to be a new and prolific source of food and a new way to fight Climate Change.  It's comprised of vertical ropes that grow a variety of seaweed and shellfish.  As a fisherman, Smith has witnessed fishing stocks depleted and destroyed by Climate Change.  He is convinced that fishing has to be sustainable to save the industry.  His GreenWave model is designed to cleanly produce shellfish and seaweed, help restore ocean ecosystems, capture carbon and nitrogen from the waters and to support and sustain commercial farming.  The shellfish and seaweed provide food for consumers, fertilizer, animal feed and more.

How Do You Start An Ocean Farm?

Smith says anyone can start an ocean farm with a boat, $20,000 to $50,000 and 20 acres of ocean to farm.  GreenWave estimates that a 20 acre regenerative ocean farm can produce 200,000 pounds of kelp and 200,000 bivalves with the potential to net $100,000 a year.  GreenWave has requests to start regenerative ocean farms in more than 100 nations.  It has a 10 year goal to help 10,000 people become green ocean farmers. GreenWave has a prestigious list of partners including Yale University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

New Waves of Ocean Farms

Smith established GreenWave in the New Haven, CT area in 2014.  He calls his process 3D farming.  Because the vertical columns of  scallops, mussels, oysters and seaweed take very little space, they can produce a large harvest with a small footprint.  The ocean farms require no antibiotics, fertilizers or fresh water. They sop up carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the surrounding waters making the ecosystem much more healthy.  A number of fisherman in the New England area have taken up the approach and are currently developing ocean farms.

Multimillion Jobs Potential

Experts says that if just .1% of the world's oceans - or 100 million acres - were farmed for seaweed, that would create 50 million new jobs. Kelp has been a dietary staple in Japan and is growing in popularity in the US and elsewhere because of its high nutritional value.  GreenWave's unique regenerative ocean farming model has the potential to help mitigate climate change, help feed the planet and build a brand new economy at sea.