Breathing Life Back into our Oceans: LITERALLY

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Breathing Life Back into our Oceans: LITERALLY

It is a little known fact that one of the biggest challenges for our oceans is deoxygenation. Food production is one of the leading casues of greenhouse gas emissions, but the leading cause of oceanic deoxygenation through over fertilising the oceans.

This is the key reason we started to investigate seaweed farming in coastal zones 25 years ago. To transform pollution—CO₂ and nitrogen runoff—into marine oxygen, clean water, and nutrient-rich food. 

Today, Every bite of our seaweed products (just 10g/day) reoxygenates 1,500L of seawater, directly combating the suffocation of our coasts.

OCEANS IN CRISIS: THE SILENT SUFFOCATION

Since the 1960s, ocean oxygen levels have dropped 2% globally, with dead zones now covering an area larger than the EU. In Australia, it’s a silent emergency:

  • Great Barrier Reef: Nutrient runoff turns coral nurseries into hypoxic graveyards.

  • Sydney Harbour: Summer "oxygen sags" dip below 5mg/L—stressing fish like a human at Everest basecamp.

  • Gulf St Vincent: In 2019, 2,900km of fish kills traced to algal blooms fed by farm runoff.

This isn’t just pollution—it’s planetary-scale asphyxiation.

EAT AND HEAL TO REVERSE IT: SEAWEED’S SUPERPOWER

Here’s the math of hope:

  • 10g of our seaweed (one serving of pasta or one skincare product) = 1,500L of seawater reoxygenated.

  • 1 year of consumption = An Olympic pool of oxygen returned to the ocean.

Unlike land food production systems that leave waste, decay that consume oxygen in the coastal zone, rapidly harvested seaweed farming regenerates nutrients into healthy molecules and leaves all its oxygen behind—making every meal and skincare day a net gain for marine life.

WHY IT WORKS: NATURE’S CIRCULAR SOLUTION

  1. Nitrogen Sponge: Our green seaweed is super efficient at stripping nitrogen from coastal zones, 50x faster than land plants.

  2. Oxygen Pump: This supercharges photosynthesis for local oxygenation up to 300% saturation—creating "breathable seawater" again.

  3. No Waste, Full Circle: The seaweed becomes food (not decomposing algae blooms), breaking the eutrophication cycle.

Imagine coastal farms as "CPR for the ocean"—reviving zones where marine life can’t breathe.

YOUR PLATE = OCEAN RECOVERY

Through PhycoHealth, we’ve embedded this science into everyday choices:

  • Pasta, snacks, skincare—each with 10% seaweed.

  • 1 purchase = 1,500L of ocean relief.

“This isn’t about ‘sustainability’—it’s about active repair. You’re not just reducing harm; you’re breathing life back into the sea.” — Dr. Pia Winberg

This World Oceans Day, choose food that feeds you and heals the ocean.

(If you want to dig into the leading science in the space, check out Breitburg et al. 2018) 

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