Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on innovative conservation solutions. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we want to share our insights with you. This time, you will discover 5 promising marine conservation startups.
Heat Map: 5 Top Marine Conservation Startups
Using our StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 1.379.000+ startups & scaleups globally, we looked at innovation in the field of natural ecosystem conservation. For this research, we identified 145 relevant solutions and picked 5 to showcase below. These companies were chosen based on a data-driven startup scouting approach, taking into account factors such as location, founding year, and relevance of technology, among others. Depending on your specific criteria, the top picks might look entirely different.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 startups & scaleups developing marine conservation solutions. Moreover, the Heat Map reveals regions that observe a high startup activity and illustrates the geographic distribution of all 145 companies we analyzed for this specific topic.
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Ashored Innovations – Sustainable Ocean Harvesting
In the fishing industry, marine entanglement with nets and other fishing equipment leads to tonnes of bycatch. This includes both non-food fish and juveniles of fish farmed for food. Additionally, ghost nets continue to trap marine life long after they’re lost by fishers. Startups are leveraging technology to develop precise solutions to save marine life from net entanglement and ghost nets.
Ashored Innovations, a Canadian startup, provides software and hardware solutions to boost fishing efficiency while protecting marine habitats. The startup’s Modular Ocean Based Instrument (MOBI) secures a fisher’s line on the ocean floor. The ropeless fishing system activates MOBI to resurface when the vessel comes back to the site or after a fixed time. The startup also develops ATLAS, an onboard tracking system that uses sensor arrays and smart tags to keep track of fishing gear to minimize their loss.
12 Tides – Food from Regenerative Ocean Farms
Regenerative ocean farms perform the same role that afforestation does for terrestrial ecosystems. Startups grow seaweed and shell near coasts to help damaged marine ecosystems recover. As the algae use up carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, seaweed farms have the potential to reverse climate change. Moreover, the harvest serves as a source of food, animal feed, biofuel, and specialty chemicals.
The US-based startup 12 Tides offers ocean-friendly snacks made with kelp. 12 Tides sources organic kelp from sustainably-managed regenerative ocean farms. The startup then bakes the harvest into umami-packed snacks. The solution provides sustainable seafood while also restoring ocean health.
Bouddi – River Waste Recycling
Most of the contamination in the oceans comes from the polluted rivers over the planet. A logical approach to conserve marine ecosystems is to simply keep rivers clean. To this end, startups are working on solutions that remove pollutants from rivers and help recycle them. This ensures that lesser amounts of plastic and other wastes reach the ocean to prevent harm to marine life.
Bouddi is an Australian startup that provides sustainable products that help clean the ocean. The startup seeks to remove waste from the dirtiest rivers, currently focusing on the Ganges river in India. Through their partnerships with local communities, the startup recycles, or responsibly disposes of, all the waste collected. The range of sustainable products from Bouddi includes beeswax wraps, natural laundry washes, food huggers, and natural kitchen cleaners, among others.
Pesky Fish – Sustainable Seafood Sourcing
Overfishing is a threat to many fish species, as well as other marine life that gets trapped as bycatch. Sustainable seafood practices aim to keep the seafood supply running without disrupting fish populations. For instance, ensuring fishing for a particular species only when their numbers are naturally high. Moreover, there is a growing awareness of sustainable seafood among customers and restaurant chefs alike. In response, startups are working on supply chain solutions that meet this need.
British startup Pesky Fish offers solutions for economically and ecologically sustainable seafood. The startup’s solution enables fish merchants and restaurants to source fresh produce directly from inshore fishers. Every fish on the startup’s marketplace is traceable all the way back to provenance. Further, this allows buyers to confidently make purchasing decisions that align with their value systems.
Brim Explorer – Maritime Electric Propulsion
Large ships, boats, and expensive yachts use up a lot of fossil fuels, polluting the oceans in the process. In areas with high marine traffic, a growth in algae on the surface blocks out the sun for marine life. Moreover, the noise from boats causes stress to several marine life and also hampers their communication. Electric propulsion systems aid in decreasing levels of pollution and act as a sustainable alternative for the industry.
Brim Explorer is a Norwegian startup that conducts ocean excursions with silent hybrid-electric ships. The hybrid-electric engine produces minimum noise and vibration and also ensures there are no disturbances for marine life. The batteries last 10 hours with the ship sailing at a speed of 10 knots and are easily rechargeable at any port. Furthermore, the ships use lightweight materials that make them energy-efficient.
What about the other 140 solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence and enable you to achieve your goals faster. The 5 marine conservation startups showcased above are promising examples out of the 145 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria, get in touch.
