For over two decades, we have pioneered research into the ecological and health benefits of seaweed production. We have developed world-first methods to grow sustainable seaweed using carbon dioxide and nitrogen runoff from local food industries — turning lost food production resources into marine oxygen, clean seawater, nutrient-rich food and biomedical molecules. So for every product that you buy with an average of 10% seaweed in it - you are literally helping to reoxygenate seawater.
OCEAN OXYGEN LEVELS IN CRISIS
Since the 1960s, global ocean oxygen levels have dropped more than 2%, with low-oxygen zones now covering nearly 10% of the ocean floor. In Australia, critical hotspots include:
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Great Barrier Reef – Nutrient run off and warming trigger hypoxia, which accelerates coral bleaching.
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Tasmanian Estuaries – Oxygen dips below 2mg/L in basin waters, choking marine life.
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Sydney Harbour – Urban run off leads to frequent “oxygen sag” levels below 5mg/L
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Spencer Gulf & Gulf of St Vincent – In 2019, Algal blooms and low-O₂ zones were linked to widespread fish kills across 2900km of coastline.
We can eat our way forward
Just 10 grams of seaweed a day in food, produces oxygen in the process and removes fertilisers from the ocean. Eating this can oxygenate up to 1,500 litres of ocean water. Over a year, that’s enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool — with every bite helping reverse ocean suffocation.
When seaweed is harvested for food, it doesn’t decay in water — meaning all the oxygen it produces remains in the marine environment, helping reverse ocean deoxygenation.
Our farms are underwater lungs in reverse, sucking up CO2 and breathing out oxygen through rapid photosynthesis. Our seaweed grows up to 10 times faster than land crops, so a small daily seaweed intake can nourish you, and pump pure oxygen back into the ocean. No waste, no guilt, just net-positive bites.
Excessive nitrogen (and phosphorus) from fertilizers has pushed marine ecosystems past safe operating limits. When too much nitrogen flows into coastal waters, it fuels algal blooms that consume oxygen as they decompose, creating “dead zones” where fish and corals suffocate. In these deoxygenated waters, Nemo wouldn’t last long—hence Nemo wearing an oxygen mask.
Why Seaweed Matters for Nutrients:
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Nitrogen Uptake: Seaweeds are natural nutrient sponges. In our cultivation pools, Ulva and similar species rapidly assimilate dissolved nitrogen, removing it from wastewater streams that would otherwise fuel coastal eutrophication.
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Oxygenation Boost: Through photosynthesis, our seaweed can drive dissolved-oxygen levels in its surrounding water to up to 300% saturation. In practical terms, each square cm of our seaweed farm, or each product that you buy, can reoxygenate roughly 1,500 liters of seawater each year, reversing hypoxia in local estuaries.
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Circular Nutrient Cycling: Instead of allowing nitrogen to run off into rivers and oceans, we re-capture it in biomass. That biomass becomes food, feed, or high-value extracts—locking nitrogen into a productive cycle rather than letting it destabilize marine ecosystems.
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The capacity for photosynthesis in our coastal zones around the planet - highlighted below in red - is coastal photosynthesis in action, and the ecosystem of seaweed. Seaweed in nature provides a major service to the planets oxgen production - and utlising it as a crop that remediates excess nutrients produces even more.
By diverting nitrogen from agricultural runoff into seaweed cultivation, we not only prevent harmful algal blooms but also create oxygen-rich zones that sustain fish, shellfish, and marine invertebrates. Our pools become mini-oases, effectively restoring local oxygen balance—precisely what Nemo would need without his oxygen mask.
THE SEAWEED SOLUTION
At PhycoHealth, we know that bringing seaweed into daily nutrition with a range of seaweed-infused foods, supplements, and skin care products — all backed by rigorous marine science, will heal humans without harming oceans.
Every time you eat a PhycoHealth product or choose our seaweed ingredients in skincare, you’re supporting a circular economy that removes waste, captures carbon, and puts oxygen back into the ocean.