Hi everyone!
A heavy news section today as we wrap up the second part of updates from the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France. I’m sure there is even more to update on.
Enjoy!
News
During UNOC, the Ocean Knowledge-Action Network (Ocean KAN)—a global coalition of ocean professionals from 35+ countries and Indigenous nations—has called for more inclusive and equitable marine governance, based on listening sessions capturing grassroots priorities like pollution control, Indigenous leadership, and climate adaptation. You can find the network’s website here.
The Nature Positive Initiative, Ocean Risk & Resilience Action Alliance, and World Economic Forum launched a partnership to establish standardized, science-based metrics for measuring “ocean-positive” outcomes—aimed at enabling transparent impact tracking and unlocking investment toward reversing marine ecosystem decline.
Ocean Impact Organisation and Southerly Ten unveiled the winners of Australia’s inaugural Offshore Wind Net-Positive Challenge—EnviroDNA, Hullbot, and Pentarch Offshore Solutions—for their trailblazing innovations to enhance biodiversity, decarbonize operations, and restore marine ecosystems.
SEA.AI’s optical and thermal vision system is now being piloted in the Atlantic through the EU-funded Atlantic Whale Deal—enabling real-time detection and tracking of surfacing whales to help reduce deadly ship strikes along busy maritime routes.
Japanese researchers from RIKEN and the University of Tokyo have developed a durable plastic that dissolves completely in seawater within just an hour—leaving no microplastics or residues—and degrades in soil within days, offering a solution to marine plastic pollution.
India and Denmark have signed a new MoU under their Green Strategic Partnership to establish a Centre of Excellence in Green Shipping in India—aimed at leveraging Danish expertise in green maritime technologies, port digitalization, and sustainable fuels to support India’s clean shipping ambitions under its Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047.
The Latin American and Caribbean Development Bank (CAF) has doubled its blue economy investment to $2.5 billion for 2025–2030, building on previous funding to support low-carbon maritime transport, ecosystem restoration, sustainable tourism, and coastal resilience across the region.
Scotland has announced a £14 million investment through the Marine Fund Scotland for the 2025–2026 period, aiming to foster innovation and sustainability in the marine sector. The fund supports a wide range of projects, including seafood processing upgrades, marine litter prevention, and salmon conservation efforts.
The European Commission has adopted the European Ocean Pact, committing €1 billion to protect marine life, restore 20% of Europe's marine ecosystems by 2030, reduce plastic and nutrient pollution by half, and enhance the competitiveness of the sustainable blue economy through collaborative efforts with EU countries, regions, and stakeholders.
Coral Vita, a Bahamian-based company specializing in ecosystem-scale coral reef restoration, has secured over $8 million in Series A funding, marking a significant milestone for the ecological regeneration industry. This funding will support Coral Vita's mission to restore degraded reefs, deploy ecological infrastructure, and help preserve the ocean's biodiversity and prosperity.
The Earthshot Prize has partnered with Builders Vision to accelerate and scale ocean-focused solutions, aiming to address the $900 billion funding gap in ocean conservation by 2030.
Opportunities
[DUE IN TWO DAYS] The Seaworthy Collective have now opened the applications for The Continuum Ocean Enterprise Studio & Incubator. Applications are due on June 26th.
The Journal of Ocean Technology is looking for technical papers, essays, and short articles focused on how Indigenous researchers, technologists, scientists, groups, and communities around the globe use ocean technology for economic growth, resource management, community engagement, and mentoring the next generation of ocean leaders. Details can be found here. Submissions are due by July 25th.
The StartBlue Accelerator at UC San Diego will be accepting applications until July 31st.
The Neptune Awards from Ocean Exchange have a variety of deadlines for their $100,000 USD price depending on your region: the date has passed for Asia & Oceania, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, but the deadline is August 1 for the Americas.
Applications are open for the Great Lakes Blue Tech Challenge. Apply here.
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.
Propeller VC has opened applications for their Fall Ocean MBA program. Apply here. The program will be taking place October 21–24, 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
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”.
The SF Blue Tech happy hour for the month of June will be occurring on June 26th at 5PM, featuring Bedrock Ocean Exploration.
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.
Register for the Ocean Hackathon 2025 that will be taking place from October 17th-19th in Paris.
The Ocean Exchange 2025 will be hosted in Fort Lauderdale, FL, from October 26-28.
Learning
A new study in nature explores how AI language models could both support and undermine equity in marine policymaking—illustrating that while LLMs may help resource‑constrained developing countries with policy drafting and analysis, they also risk reinforcing biases by over-representing Western perspectives and neglecting Global South viewpoints.
In a new blog post, Propeller VC reimagines CTVC’s annual Climate Market Map through a blue lens, illustrating how ocean innovation cuts across every climate sector—from transportation and energy to carbon removal and climate risk—positioning the ocean as a powerful, underutilized catalyst for systemic decarbonization.
A new preprint highlights a major oversight in global ocean afforestation models—showing that iron limitation could significantly reduce the carbon removal potential of seaweed cultivation and, in some scenarios, even result in net-negative climate impacts—underscoring the need to incorporate iron dynamics into marine CDR projections.
Companies doing the work
REGENT has developed a coastal city travel experience via a wing-in-ground-effect craft that glides just above the water, combining the speed of a plane, the ease of a boat, and the low cost of all-electric propulsion.
Hullbot is a Sydney-based robotic hull cleaning service that reduces fuel consumption and reduces emissions