We cannot solve the ocean crisis with one solution, because there isn’t one ocean crisis.
Ocean acidification, climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and overexploitation are interconnected pressures on marine ecosystems. They may have different drivers, but they can compound one another, increasing stress on marine organisms and reducing the resilience of ecosystems to further change.
This means that ocean solutions need to operate at different levels from reducing pressures, protecting and restoring ecosystems to measuring impact and outcomes.
And innovation does not necessarily mean futuristic carbon removal technologies. Ocean innovation can also mean:
measure → predict → adapt → manage → restore.
From blue carbon ecosystems and regenerative aquaculture to coral restoration and new approaches to ocean monitoring, a growing range of solutions is emerging. But their potential and their limitations need to be understood within the broader context of ocean health.
Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems
Mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows are among the ecosystems commonly referred to as blue carbon ecosystems. These ecosystems capture and retain carbon while also providing habitat for marine species, supporting fisheries, filtering pollutants and nutrients, protecting coastlines from erosion and storm impacts, and supporting the livelihoods of coastal communities.
This makes blue carbon a particularly powerful example of a multi-benefit nature solution: one intervention can simultaneously contribute to climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation. When these ecosystems are degraded or destroyed, their capacity to store carbon and provide ecosystem services is reduced, and previously stored carbon can be released.
Coral reefs are among the ecosystems most visibly affected by the combination of warming, ocean acidification, pollution, disease and other local pressures. Coral restoration has therefore become an increasingly important area of marine innovation, with new approaches exploring how restoration can become more effective and resilient. Innovations include improved nursery and outplanting techniques, and the use of advanced monitoring technologies. Restoration is also increasingly being combined with improvements in local water quality and habitat management, making coral restoration a potential multi-benefit nature solution if combined with broader ecosystem management.
For companies, this creates an opportunity to move beyond one-off conservation contributions towards long-term, science-based partnerships that support ecosystem protection, restoration and monitoring. Rather than treating coral restoration as a one-off sponsorship or planting x mangroves, companies should support long-term restoration and monitoring programmes that generate measurable ecological outcomes.
Regenerative ocean farming: working with marine ecosystems
Food production in the ocean can also contribute to ecosystem health, if managed sustainably. That means moving away from linear, extractive models towards production systems that work with ecological processes and recycle nutrients. This is the premise behind emerging innovative approaches such as seaweed cultivation and integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA).
Seaweed can be cultivated for food, feed, biomaterials and other applications while also taking up nutrients from the surrounding water. In IMTA systems, species with complementary ecological functions, such as fish, shellfish and seaweed, can be cultivated together so that the outputs of one species can become inputs for another.
Seaweed is also being investigated for its potential to capture CO₂ and locally mitigate ocean acidification. However, the scale, permanence and ecological trade-offs of these effects remain under investigation, highlighting the importance of robust monitoring before these approaches are considered scalable climate or acidification solutions.
The approach is therefore not simply about producing more from the ocean, but designing marine production systems that work more closely with ecosystem functions.
Reducing pollution: protecting ocean resilience upstream
One of the most important ways to protect marine ecosystems is to reduce the pressures reaching them in the first place. Almost every major economic sector has an impact on the ocean, for example:
- In the agricultural sector, excess nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural fertilisers, manure and wastewater can enter rivers and coastal waters, contributing to eutrophication, harmful algal blooms and oxygen depletion, which can lead to local changes in seawater chemistry, including coastal acidification. Solutions can include precision fertilisation, improved nutrient-use efficiency, nutrient recycling, buffer zones and the restoration of wetlands that intercept nutrients before they reach waterways.
- Shipping contributes to climate change through GHG emissions, while maritime activity can also generate underwater noise, air pollution and other pressures on marine ecosystems. Decarbonising the sector through greater energy efficiency, alternative fuels and cleaner port operations can therefore contribute to reducing climate-driven pressures on the ocean, while improved operational practices can address other local impacts.
Ocean protection is not only a marine-sector challenge. It is a transformation challenge across the economy. Waste management, product design and recycling may sound like land-based challenges, but they can ultimately become ocean protection strategies.
From solutions to measurable impact
The challenge is therefore not simply to deploy more solutions, it’s to understand which solution works, where, at what scale, and with what trade-offs. This is why the next generation of ocean innovation needs to be accompanied by equally strong monitoring and impact assessment.
References
IPCC (2022). Chapter 3: Oceans and Coastal Ecosystems and Their Services. AR6 Working Group II Report.
IUCN (2017). Blue Carbon. Issues Brief.
NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (2024). Carbon Capture and Ocean Acidification Mitigation Potential by Seaweed Farms in Tropical and Subtropical Coastal Environments. Funded Project.