222
SOLUTIONS
TO HEAL, RESTORE, AND
SUSTAIN OUR OCEAN
SPECIAL REPORT 2021

INTRODUCING SOA’S 222 SOLUTIONS TO HEAL, RESTORE, AND SUSTAIN OUR OCEAN

Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) activates young people, develops and implements innovative solutions, and mobilizes an ocean workforce to restore the health of the ocean in our lifetime.

Since founded by Daniela Fernandez in 2014, SOA has built the world’s largest network of young ocean leaders and supported innovative startups, nonprofits, and grassroots campaigns dedicated to solving the greatest threats facing our planet.

Two years ago at the World Economic Forum, we shared our vision with the world, and Salesforce Chair and Co-CEO Marc Benioff challenged us to accelerate 100 solutions by 2021.

Today, SOA is proud to announce that as of 2021, we have more than doubled our initial goal: we have accelerated 222 startups, nonprofits, and grassroots initiatives all over the world, each dedicated to restoring and sustaining the health of our ocean.

222 Solutions
SOA FACTS & FIGURES

OCEAN SOLUTIONS ACCELERATOR

The Ocean Solutions Accelerator helps entrepreneurs launch for-profit ocean solutions for a sustainable blue economy by providing funding, mentorship, and other critical resources to scale their ventures and amplify their impact.

OCEAN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

The Ocean Leadership Program (OLP) holistically supports over 6,000 global participants with the resources and networks they need to build ocean-healing solutions and to reach their full potential as ocean leaders. The OLP awards Microgrants of up to $15,000 USD to outstanding youth leaders to execute and scale their projects, and provides 72 youth-led Hubs with leadership and programmatic support.

45

OCEAN COMPANIES

in 29 countries
$950K

SOA INVESTMENT

in SOA startups
$228M+

TOTAL INVESTMENT CAPITAL

raised by SOA startups
177

MICROGRANT PROJECTS

awarded to youth-led initiatives
$416K

DEPLOYED IN FUNDING

to support youth-led projects
596

BLUE JOBS CREATED

within SOA's solutions

FIVE AREAS OF OCEAN HEALTH IMPACT

Together, these 222 solutions for ocean restoration have touched tens of thousands of lives, restored critical marine ecosystems worldwide, invented sustainable alternatives to plastics, pioneered cutting-edge technology to illuminate the mysteries of our deepest seas and much, much more.

Each startup, nonprofit, and grassroots initiative has focused its efforts across five key areas of ocean health impact.

Learn more, and explore all 222 solutions below.

DONATE TO SOA

Carbon (CO2) Reduction & Blue Carbon

15 SOLUTIONS

IMPACT:
15,540 metric tons of CO2 reduced, avoided, or sequestered

The fight to address climate change cannot be separated from the drive to support solutions that address carbon removal and blue carbon ecosystem development. In 2020, 31.5 gigatons of carbon (CO2) were emitted globally, with 83% of the carbon cycle circulating through the ocean. Certain marine and coastal ecosystems—like tidal marshes, mangroves, and seagrass meadows—play a critical role in this cycle by sequestering and storing what’s then known as “blue carbon.”

These ecosystems are critical to climate change mitigation. Mangroves and salt marshes, for example, remove carbon from the atmosphere at a rate 10 times greater and store five times more carbon per acre than tropical forests.

POLLUtion Reduction &
THE Circular economy

61 SOLUTIONS

IMPACT:
1,755 metric tons of solid waste removed, upcycled, or avoided

Each year, only 9% of plastic produced ends up recycled—which results in 10 million tons of plastic dumped into our oceans every year. That’s nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population. These pollutants are responsible for choking marine life, destroying both marine and coastal ecosystems, and polluting our own food sources.

Today, the average person ingests over 70,000 microplastics each year (that’s 100 pieces over the course of a single meal). The solutions in this category work to reduce and eliminate items like single-use plastics. Their work in turn helps to build the circular economy, which promotes the extension of product lifecycles and aims to decrease solid waste and pollution.

Ecosystem Preservation & Restoration

34 SOLUTIONS

IMPACT:
89,128 square meters of blue carbon ecosystems protected or restored

In addition to sustaining marine life and the communities that depend on it, coastal ecosystems account for approximately half of the total carbon sequestered in ocean sediments. These may include coral reefs, mangrove forests, kelp forests, wetlands, and seagrass beds. Together, they serve as nurseries for marine organisms and as critical areas of blue carbon capture.

However, many marine ecosystems are experiencing degradation and destruction by human activities, which not only leads to species depletion, but also releases the critically stored carbon back into the atmosphere.

Ocean data, Literacy & Research

81 SOLUTIONS

Solutions in this category have monitored 150,000 kilometers of coastline for climate change adaptation planning, detected 67,000 whales to avoid marine collisions, produced 150+ ocean literacy reports and media projects, hosted 260 events with more than 30,000 youth participants, and much more.

More than 80% of our ocean is unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored. In the United States, only 35% of the ocean and coastal waters have been mapped with modern methods. In order to inform policy decisions that ensure marine and coastal ecosystem sustainability—and to empower humans worldwide to take local action to save the ocean—we need reliable data sources, mapping, and consistent analysis.

Some projects in the category of ocean literacy, data, and research focus on data collection and analysis, while other initiatives are dedicated to fostering knowledge-sharing and creating local opportunities for action. All play critical roles in leveraging knowledge and technical skills to catalyze lasting ocean impact.

SPOTLIGHT: Blue Foods
(Sustainable protein, fisheries and aquaculture)

31 SOLUTIONS

Every year, 30% of commercial fish stocks are overfished, while harmful fishing practices cause over 38 million tons of bycatch (the incidental capture of a non-target species). As a result, this institutionalized overfishing has contributed to a marked decrease in recorded marine species over the last 40 years.

Sustainable protein, fisheries, and aquaculture solutions address the challenge of sustainably feeding the world's growing human population without the continued exploitation of marine habitats and species. 

SOA’s solutions in this area are varied, with many developing new, innovative systems of impact tracking. One Microgrant project is developing a supply chain around selling “gourmet” sea urchins in order to quell California’s invasive purple sea urchin population explosion. Another is piloting a CSA-style delivery service in the Philippines to support seasonal, sustainably caught seafood. Our Accelerator alumni are hard at work in this area as well, developing plant-based alternatives to seafood (think kelp burgers, kelp jerky, and cell-cultured tuna), net sensors to reduce bycatch, deepwater solar irrigation for seaweed farming, and more.

OUR 222 SOLUTIONS

IMPACT CATEGORIES

TYPE

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Microgrant

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Indonesia

Pollution Reduction & the Circular Economy

Yuli Efriani

Seabolga Goes To School

Seabolga's mission is to protect Sibolga from its growing plastic waste problem. Seabolga Goes to School 2020 educated children in Sibolga’s schools about marine debris and its impact on the ocean and on human life. This program included school workshops, a beach cleanup for all workshop participants, and a webinar talkshow about the SDG14.

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Startup

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USA

Pollution Reduction & the Circular Economy

Mike Newman

Returnity

Returnity replaces single-use shipping and delivery packaging by designing, manufacturing and implementing reusable packaging and circular logistics systems. Used for over 500,000 shipments per month, their packaging addresses the negative impacts from the rapid growth in direct to consumer shipping.

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Microgrant

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Cook Islands

Ocean Data, Literacy & Research

Alanna Smith

Seabed Mining Panel Discussion

In order to enhance local Cook Islanders' understanding of seabed mining, Te Ipukarea Society hosted an interactive panel discussion event, 6 workshops for youth at schools, and produced a brief documentary on the threat Seabed Mining poses to the Cook Islands, which has over 5,000 views in less than one year.

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Startup

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USA

Ocean Data, Literacy & Research

Michael Uy

Blue Tribe

Blue Tribe used federated machine learning and patented processes to predict coastal natural disasters at a hyperlocal level, replacing current flood models based on periodic, static surveys and statistical simulation, which can't predict local floods. Blue Tribe is no longer active.

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Microgrant

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Indonesia

Ecosystem Preservation & Restoration

Imanda Hikmat Pradana

Revitalizing Reef in Wakatobi National Park

Through Rare's Fish Forever Program, this project established a 739 hectare Managed Access Reserve in Liya Village, and provided local fishers with clear rights to access fish stock in the area. A community group named Posa'asa was also formed with the hope that it would enable fishers to have a platform to adopt more sustainable and better-regulated fishing behaviors. As part of this project, over 300 coral were planted.

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Microgrant

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USA

Ecosystem Preservation & Restoration

Coral Restoration with Coral Lok on the Florida Reef Tract

This organization behind this project has several ongoing reef and restoration projects in Florida and Mexico. Their primary reef is located off of Riviera Beach Florida, where they have installed 70 reef modules and are testing there ability to recruit biodiversity. This Microgrant supports work in Florida to create artificial reefs, restore coral reefs, advance biodiverse marine habitats, raise global awareness, and educate and inspire youth about coral preservation and restoration.

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Microgrant

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Indonesia

Ecosystem Preservation & Restoration

Aditya Salim

Deep Seabed Mining in Indonesia

In collaboration with the YPAC Southeast Asia Deep Sea Mining Coalition, this program raises awareness about Deep Sea Mining amongst high-level government officials in Indonesia. Informed by meetings with experts a policy brief containing DSM key action plans and will launch the brief through webinars and a campaign

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Microgrant

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Indonesia

Ocean Data, Literacy & Research

Janis Argeswara

Reproductive ecology of the Nusa Penida MPA manta rays

This project collects data on Manta Rays in The Nusa Penida Marine Protected Area (MPA), and couples this information with individual sightings data to understand their population demographics and dynamics. The information garnered from this study will provide data on manta ray life-history parameters and lend insights into whether sites repeatedly used by smaller individuals can be considered nurseries for this species, which is an understudied aspect of manta ray ecology. The information from this study will be used to inform tourism management within the MPA.

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Microgrant

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El Salvador

Ocean Data, Literacy & Research

Raúl Barbón

SOA Hub Launch: El Salvador

SOA El Salvador is a youth-run organization that enables millennials to become leaders in preserving the health and sustainability of our oceans. Through this grant, they have formalized their hub's structure, grown their membership, and created a leadership team tasked with creating a set of services that can support 20-100 members. This year they offered a beach cleanup campaign and educational activities for members of the public, and created reliable patterns and processes for holding quarterly chapter meetings.

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