The Alaska Mariculture Task Force has identified securing seed supply through hatcheries as the number one recommendation to meet the challenges facing the mariculture industry in Alaska. In 2020, there were 25 permitted aquatic farms and only five licensed hatcheries within the state capable of producing seed string for farmers, three of which produce seed exclusively for farms affiliated with their hatchery (Alaska limits the distance a hatchery can be from a farm). Fisherman Fresh proposes to meet the demand for kelp seed through its mobile kelp hatchery (housed on a fishing vessel), which they will upgrade to be run entirely by solar panels. They plan to seed 11 acres of farmed kelp by November 2023.

Glass Half Full recycles glass into sand and gravel for coastal restoration, disaster relief, and new glass products with backing from the National Science Foundation. Co-founder and CEO, Franziska, was born and raised in Louisiana, where she experienced the local coastal erosion crisis and lack of recycling options. While a senior at Tulane University, she co-founded Glass Half Full alongside Max Steitz to tackle these two issues. Before Glass Half Full started, there was no glass recycling in the entire state of Louisiana and even most of Mississippi. Now, since its inception in a backyard in 2020, they recycle over 150,000 pounds of glass every single month into sand and gravel. While they have a robust pickup program with over 1,600 customers, they seek to generate new revenue through the development of novel glass products, which requires investment in machinery, design, and training. With increased revenue comes increased capacity to turn glass into sand to mitigate coastal erosion. This grant will support them in purchasing a new glass-blowing kiln to produce larger products, train more glassblowers, develop and market new products, and restore coastal lands in partnership with the Pointe au Chien Indian Tribe.

Violet Cove is an oyster and seaweed farm managed by Susan Wicks, a former WNBA player who grew up on her father's oyster farm. With SOA grant support, Crew Chief Tyler Rochen will lead their effort to plant and harvest 4,000 linear feet of sugar kelp (which they will process into flakes), and monitor the impact on the oysters. With assistance from researchers at the Gobbler Lab at Stony Brook University, they will measure the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon uptake at their farm. They will spread the word about seaweed as a soil amendment, speaking at libraries and sharing their product with local organic farmers.

For three years, SOA has supported Andrés and Josue and their initiative to build an insect farm, rearing crickets and mealworms for fish-feed pellets for regenerative aquaculture in Santa Cruz Quixayá, Guatemala. Working with the Integral Cooperative of Mayan-indigenous peasants, and with local farmer Josué and his family, they constructed the farm (reproduction area), using natural raw materials like bamboo and mud bricks, and conducted natural building (ancestral techniques) workshops for 5 farmers. With this grant, they will complete the processing center and incubation room , equipping it with the materials necessary to process the crickets and mealworms and distribute them to aquaculture farmers in the community of Quixaya and surrounding communities as an alternative to industrial fish-meal, helping them achieve sustainability within their livelihoods and increase overall community resilience. This project seeks to solve one of the most important problems in the ocean: the over-exploitation of fish populations for the production of animal feed.

LINAT (Light for Nature) is a new organization founded by young Ocean Leader Anthony Duxell Malle, dedicated to environmental conservation through direct action and behavior change. With the grant they received in 2022, they planted over 1,100 mangroves and restored 5 hectares, establishing two mangrove nurseries in collaboration with UBGEOSA. They held workshops reaching 2,345 people across four local communities, teaching the importance of mangrove preservation. Their goals for 2023 are to lay the groundwork for a mangrove eco-park and seek third-party certification for their mangrove restoration activities through verifier RESTOR.

Agora Solutions, a Netherlands-based startup founded and led by recent graduates of TU Delft, will use this grant to pilot their research into the effects of kelp farming on local ecosystems, beginning in Mulroy Bay, Ireland. The data they collect inform a predictive model that seaweed farmers can use for decision-making and continuous monitoring, as well as a measurable carbon reduction method linked to seaweed cultivation. They have built the first version of their demo, and seaweed farmers will test it in the field over the course of 2023. Overall, this project aims to support a better understanding of the effects of large-scale seaweed cultivation on the environment.

Born and raised in Madagascar, Jeimila founded Koraï in 2022 a company that aims to restore African coastal ecosystems. This grant supports them in growing 2,000 corals and hire a biologist to undertake a feasibility study to establish an active restoration site and MPA off the northern coast of Madagascar.

In 2022, with the support of an SOA grant, GREAT Institute planted 10,000 mangroves over 2,500 square meters, and trained 15 students on restoration and monitoring as part of the RREMEDY I project. This project will continue monitoring the growth and survival rate of the newly planted mangroves at Sankandi Village, and train an additional 45 University students in environmental and marine science. The project will introduce to students mangrove ecosystem services, including quantifying carbon sequestration in the Tanbi Wetland National Park and Sankandi Village, and providing important benefits for local indigenous people, rice farmers, and oyster harvesters. This is the fourth SOA grant awarded to GREAT Institute.

Noble Ocean Farms (NOF) is a three acre regenerative kelp farm that's building capacity and local food sovereignty in an isolated community on traditional Eyak land in Alaska. Kelp is a nutrient-dense sea vegetable that has strong cultural significance  for Indigenous communities, and it naturally removes carbon and improves water quality. In 2022, NOF doubled their growing capacity, provided kelp as part of free school lunches, and trained local people on how to grow kelp with the support of the SOA Leadership for Climate-Resilient Fisheries Fellowship. With this grant, they will provide an in-depth internship and training for an Alaskan tribal youth interested in kelp farming, as well as plant 8,000 feet of new kelp seed.