86th Edition

Seaworthy Collective incubator applications opening, recent financial and technological ocean breakthroughs, and the importance of ocean literacy

Hi everyone!

Happy Earth Day 🌎💚. Even though this day has come to signify a day of corporate green washing and virtue signaling, I hope you all are able to ground yourself in the natural world at some point today. I’ll be making an attempt at that here in NYC. Respond in the comments below, or directly to this email, with how you will be trying to connect with nature or the cause today- it can be super small!

I also highly recommend reading through the paper “Indigenous Knowledge Is Key to Better Ocean Management” in this week’s learning section.

News

• The new documentary Ocean with David Attenborough will be released in theaters in the UK on May 8th. You can check for theaters showing the documentary here and watch the trailer here.

• The World Economic Forum discussed, in a new article, how novel financial mechanisms, such as the Small-scale Fisheries Impact Bond, are being employed to address the underfunding of marine conservation in Southeast Asia, a region heavily reliant on ocean resources for livelihoods and climate resilience.

• A recent breakthrough in green hydrogen production is emerging from China, where Sinopec is piloting a novel approach that uses direct seawater electrolysis—powered by solar energy and resistant to chlorine corrosion—to address the sector’s dependence on freshwater, offering a scalable and more sustainable path forward for hydrogen in water-scarce regions.

• Last week, Norway announced that it is introducing a comprehensive aquaculture strategy that links salmon farm production limits to environmental performance, specifically targeting sea lice levels and fish mortality, aiming to incentivize sustainable practices and enhance fish welfare in the industry.

• Take a look at this week’s BlueX Newsletter (which I recommend you go ahead and subscribe to) for other blue tech-related news, and an informative interview with Daniel Kleinman of the Seaworthy Collective.

• Saudi Arabia has launched OceanQuest, a not-for-profit foundation based at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), aiming to spearhead global deep-sea exploration and marine innovation through substantial investment in research, international collaboration, and sustainable ocean development initiatives aligned with Vision 2030.

• EarthX will be hosting the Ocean Exchange Pitch Competition for the second time. Check out this article for more information on those that will be participating in the Ocean Exchange Pitch Showcase.

Opportunities

• The Seaworthy Collective have now opened the applications for The Continuum Ocean Enterprise Studio & Incubator. Applications are due on June 26th.

• Applications are open for the Great Lakes Blue Tech Challenge. Apply here.

• As of January 21st, applications are open for call for projects issued to the scientific community throughout the European Economic Area (EEA) on the topic of Ocean and Coastal Ecosystems.

• The 'Our Shared Ocean' Mobility and Travel Grants 2025 program offers funding to support research conferences, training courses, and research visits, primarily for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in partnership with Irish institutions. Remaining submission deadlines are June 13, September 5, and November 7, 2025.

• Hatch Blue, an aquaculture and alternative seafood investor, is looking for startups to join their accelerator program, in which they will invest $75,000 in each successful applicant.

• Apply to Katapult’s Ocean Accelerator program that is designed to guide founders through complex entrepreneurial issues, add structure, and help raise a startup’s next round.

• Fair Carbon has launched a Blue Carbon Academy that aims to help with the fine-tuning of the design of a Blue Carbon project.

Events

• This month’s Ocean Nexus webinar is on the topic of “Reestablishing Equity as Critical Environmental Justice in Ocean Governance Literature”, and will be taking place at 12PM ET. Register for the webinar here.

• The Ocean Tech Summit + HH during SF Climate week will be happening on April 23rd at 2PM PT.

• Register for the Ocean Hackathon 2025 that will be taking place from October 17th-19th in Paris. They will be hosting an informational webinar on April 23rd.

• The Hydrospatial Infrastructure & Blue Economy Summit, part of the Geospatial World Forum 2025 in Madrid, Spain, will take place on April 24-25, 2025, focusing on the digitalization of ocean economies; register by April 15th.

• The One Ocean Science Congress will be in Nice, France, for June 4-6.

• The 2025 UN Ocean Conference will also be in Nice, France on 9 June - 13 June.

• The COVE Demo Day will be taking place on Thursday, June 12th, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

• The 2025 People and the Sea Conference will be taking place from 24-27 of June, with the theme focusing on “tensions, trade-offs, and transformations for the Ocean Decade and beyond”.

• Attend the Advancing Marine CDR Summit this July 8-10.

• The EAHN Thematic Conference on September 10-13th will be focusing on “The Built Ocean”. They have an open call for papers for the conference.

Learning

• Check out this paper published by WRI entitled, “Indigenous Knowledge Is Key to Better Ocean Management”

• Plan Sea released the second part of their reflections on the Ocean Visions Summit from last month.

• A new paper has been released, entitled “Shouting into the void: Democratising ocean literacy through integrating process literacy,” that argues that integrating "process literacy"—an understanding of marine governance and regulatory systems—into ocean literacy is essential for fostering more informed, inclusive, and democratic engagement with human-ocean relationships, using the UK as a case study to define its dimensions and practical relevance.

Companies doing the work

• The Blue Cradle Foundation is an Aotearoa New Zealand foundation that aims to make ocean science more accessible for a range of different audiences focused on marine research and ocean literacy education.

• SWITCH Maritime LLC is building a fleet of zero-carbon maritime ships powered 100% by hydrogen fuel cell and battery.