ocean-conservation
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Upwell gave the ocean a PR department. Who would pay for it?
A small San Francisco nonprofit turned online listening into shared campaigns for the sea. Its experiments outlived the organization - and left a difficult question about who funds work that benefits everyone.
World Surf League sells the ocean. The ocean has other plans.
Professional surfing has sponsors, streaming deals and a world title race. Its most powerful business partner still refuses to keep a schedule.
The Aquarium That Turned Wonder Into an Ocean Policy Engine
Inside a recycled sardine cannery, Monterey Bay Aquarium built a rare machine: part museum, part laboratory, part classroom and part pressure group. The fish are the beginning of the story, not the end.
Blue Ocean Gear
Blue Ocean Gear builds Smart Buoys - rugged, connected buoys that track the real-time location and movement of fishing and aquaculture gear deployed at sea. Using dual-band satellite and radio links feeding a cloud platform and mobile app, the company helps commercial fishers find lost gear faster, spot problems early, cut fuel-burning search time, and reduce 'ghost gear' that fouls the ocean. Founded in 2015 and based in Sausalito, California, it serves wild-capture fisheries, aquaculture farms, and research institutions from New England to the South Pacific.
Wildtype
Wildtype is a San Francisco-based cultivated seafood company that grows real salmon from fish cells in stainless steel bioreactors - no fishing, no farming, no ocean required. Founded in 2016 by a cardiologist-turned-food-scientist and a former U.S. Foreign Service officer, the company received FDA clearance in May 2025, making it the first cultivated seafood product approved for sale in the United States. With $123.5M raised and backing from Jeff Bezos, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Cargill, Wildtype is betting that the future of seafood is grown, not caught.