Tell most Australians that nearly two-thirds of our seafood is imported, and they’ll be flabbergasted. After all, our fisheries are known to be well managed for the most part and held to a high standard around sustainability. But a recent study by Minderoo Foundation proves that we don’t really know what’s on our plate.

There’s a big chance that items you’ll find in your bathroom make up some of the 120bn units of packaging produced by the beauty industry annually. And those single-use amenity bottles in hotels? According to The Wall Street Journal, an estimated 5bn of them are thrown away yearly. But Nohbo, Winner of The Ocean Impact Pitchfest 2022, has developed a solution to help CPGs and the hospitality industry ditch single-use plastic. Encapsulating your favourite personal care products into plastic-free single-use or full-size ‘serves’ that literally disappear with water.

Did you know that the equivalent of one garbage truck worth of plastic ends up in the ocean every minute? And according to the OECD, 40% of global plastic waste actually comes from packaging. One New Zealand startup is on a mission to make sustainable packaging that does better. And whether they’re creating compostable mailers that declare “I’m a real dirt bag” or putting a giant emoji poo made of plastic waste on Bondi Beach - they seem pretty passionate about it.

Did you know that the industry standard coating for marine vessels, antifouling paint, is toxic? Antifouling coatings usually contain biocides to help prevent the growth of marine organisms (biofouling), and are often designed to self-erode when organisms eventually do take hold. But one German startup has developed an alternative solution with commercial shipping vessels in mind.

Wet trade slurry (eg. cement slurry) is generated on building sites every day, and often finds its way into water systems. For one experienced Sydney builder, it was a problem he’d observed far too often. He had enough of seeing tradespeople cutting corners on site, and slurry being dumped out. Subsequently ending up down stormwater drains and out into rivers, and eventually the ocean. So he created SLURRYTUB, a bright orange solution to this grey problem.

Without climate mitigation and adaptation, half the world’s beaches could disappear by the end of the century due to climate change-induced coastal erosion and rising seas. Coral reefs have been a hero in protecting our coastlines, but climate change is impacting them too. Luckily, CCell has a solution to grow digitised, living artificial reefs that help combat coastal erosion.

How do you monitor catch on fishing vessels out at sea? The traditional - and archaic - process for this is not exactly scalable. But one ocean impact startup may have found the ‘unlock’ for sustainable fisheries monitoring, by utilising AI technology.

Around 700,000 microfibres are released doing an average load of washing. Mocja Zupan (Founder and CEO of PlanetCare) compares this to dumping one plastic bag into the ocean per week, just by doing laundry! Microplastics are a big problem: after all, they’ve been found in the Mariana Trench, in our food, and even in our blood! But PlanetCare is on a mission to stop microfibres from your washing machine.

With the decommissioning of thousands of aging offshore oil and gas platforms imminent, the question remains: what do we do with them? One female-owned startup has developed a tool to predict exactly that, putting data in the hands of decision-makers to choose the best outcome for the ocean and Blue Economy.

Did you know that biofouling can contribute to a 20-55% increase in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per vessel? This is just one of the many consequences of this pesky problem. In the first episode of our Pitchfest 2022 series, we chat to Hullbot CEO and co-founder Tom Loefler about how this Sydney-based robotics startup is sustainably tackling biofouling prevention, and building the world's most advanced underwater drone.

Dr Tony Worby is Director of the Planet Portfolio and Flourishing Oceans initiative at Minderoo Foundation. This episode of The Ocean Impact Podcast is far-reaching. We discuss Tony’s highly distinguished career; including 17 research trips to Antarctica in 21 years, studying Antarctic sea ice. We chat about the current state of the ocean, and big questions like “how can we save the ocean?” We also discuss how Minderoo is tackling ocean threats such as illegal and over-fishing, plastic waste, and climate change. Tony notes how solutions to help solve these problems will come from investments and technology, and gives advice to people who want to work in the ocean impact space. And we talk about the new three-year partnership between OIO and Minderoo Foundation.

Sam Elsom is the co-founder and CEO of Sea Forest, a Tasmania-based startup cultivating asparagopsis seaweed for use as a feed supplement in livestock industries to drastically reduce methane emissions and fight climate change. Just a tiny amount of Sea Forest feed supplement can reduce methane emissions by up to 98%. Sea Forest was the Winner of The Ocean Impact Pitchfest 2021 and also received the Climate Spotlight Award funded by OIO’s philanthropic community.

Kristin and Tarun are the co-founders of Saathi; a groundbreaking impact startup based in Ahmedabad, India that manufactures 100% biodegradable and compostable sanitary pads made from banana and bamboo fibres. Saathi are also Finalists, Runners Up, and Plastic Pollution Spotlight Award Winners in the Ocean Impact Pitchfest 2021, as well as Ocean Impact Accelerator Program 2022 participants. The only startup in our ecosystem to achieve this so far!

Syrine Chaalala is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of nextProtein, who were winners of the Ocean Impact Pitchfest 2021 Sustainable Harvesting Spotlight Award presented by Austral Fisheries. This Tunisia/France-based insect technology startup produces insect-based protein for animal feedstocks using food waste - returning protein to the food cycle.

Jesse Baines is the Chief Marketing Officer for Atlantic Sea Farms and a proud Maine native with deep connections to the local lobster fishery. Atlantic Sea Farms is a Maine-based startup - and Ocean Impact Pitchfest 2021 Finalist - creating craveable, innovative products made from sustainably farmed sea greens, while expanding opportunities for Maine's fishing communities.

Adam Root is the founder and CEO of Matter, a UK based microplastic technology company pioneering innovative solutions for the capture, harvest and recycling of microplastics. Matter’s mission is to improve the health of our oceans by capturing microplastics from the source.

Jack Hurley is the Founder of Firetail Robotics, Winner of The Ocean Impact Pitchfest 2021 Ocean Monitoring Spotlight Award for their pioneering work using technology to increase ocean knowledge. A commercial helicopter pilot and aerial surveyor by trade - Jack is driven to help businesses ‘think outside the box’ when it comes to solving problems.

Declan McAdams is the co-founder and Chairman of Pinovo, a Norwegian startup on a mission to transform the $12bn environmentally destructive sandblasting industry. As Declan eloquently shares in this podcast - the vast majority of paint used in the world today is actually plastic. And when painted infrastructure is routinely maintained or degrades over time - enormous quantities of microplastic paint particles enter the environment.