3D ocean farm wins prestigious sustainability prize

GreenWave has won this year’s USD 100,000 Fuller Challenge for its multi-species 3D ocean farms. Its aim is to restore ocean ecosystems, create jobs for fishermen and grow crops that can produce food, fertilisers, cosmetics and more.

The prize – which calls itself socially-responsible design’s highest award – is handed out each year to a holistic design solution to some of humanity’s most pressing problems.

Executive director Bred Smith, who admits to pillaging the oceans and ripping up entire ecosystems in his previous occupation as a commercial fisherman, accepted the USD 100,000 prize for winning the 2015 Fuller Challenge. His 3D ocean farms shifts from growing vulnerable monocultures to creating vibrant ecosystems, which rebuilds ocean biodiversity and produces higher yields.

Smith calls the infrastructure simple: seaweed, scallops and mussels grow on floating ropes that are stacked above oyster and clam cages on the seafloor. The crops can produce food, fertilisers, animal feeds, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, biofuels and more. The crops filter harmful pollutants out of the water and sequester carbon. As there is no need for fresh water, fertilisers or pesticides, restorative ocean farming is the most sustainable form of food production on the planet.

“GreenWave exemplifies beautifully Fuller’s inspirational call for individuals and groups to take the initiative, identify a critical issue, and tackle it independently, creatively, responsibly, and in a comprehensive manner,” says Michael Ben-Eli, senior advisor to the Fuller Challenge.

GreenWave fulfils all the criteria of the Fuller Challenge. Its zero-input, closed-loop, multi-species aquaculture system does not simply minimise harm but is in fact ecologically regenerative. It is also financially feasible and only requires 20 acres of leased ocean, a boat and USD 30,000 of start-up costs. The model is also replicable: GreenWave disseminates the model by open-source manuals, training programmes and an online collaboration platform to create a network of restorative ocean farming communities.

Smith plans to use the prize money to shift from applied concept to actual replication, reports the Guardian.

 

Photo credit: GreenWave

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