Re-Oxygenating the Ocean
This past weekend at the Ocean Lovers Festival, something beautiful happened. Amongst the sunshine, salt air, and sea-loving community, we shared a story that too few people know — but everyone responded to with heart and action.
We spoke about a quiet crisis in our oceans: the loss of oxygen.
It’s not just polar bears and plastic we need to worry about — our oceans are literally running out of breath. Since the 1960s, the oceans have lost around 2% of their oxygen. Ocean zones around the planet with no oxygen at all — called “dead zones” — are growing, largely because of nutrient pollution running off the land.
But here’s something most people don’t realise: over 50% of the oxygen we breathe is produced by seaweeds and algae in the ocean.
(Source: NOAA & Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
That means the sea — not just the forests on land — is our planet’s life-support system. And yet, with fewer kelp forests and nutrient overloaded coastal zones, local marine ecosystems can become so overfed that they lose their oxygen altogether. There are now over 500 low oxygen coastal-zones around the world today.
Seaweed: The Green Lungs of the Sea
At our talks over the weekend and at the PhycoHealth stand, we were humbled to see how curious and grateful people were to finally hear this story — and to learn that seaweed is one of the most powerful solutions.
When seaweed grows — whether it’s the kelp forests of Operation Crayweed or the green seaweed we grow for food and skincare — it breathes life back into the ocean. It draws in carbon, mops up excess nutrients, and releases oxygen. It’s like planting forests, but underwater. And the good news is, that the more seaweed we grow and harvest right before nutrients hit the ocean - just like we do at PhycoHealth - the less oxygen depletion will occur - because that is the product that comes out at the end of our farming - oxygen without the nutrient load.
This re-oxygenation is essential at the delicate interface between land and sea, where the impacts of farming, cities, and climate change hit hardest. And it’s why both seaweed cultivation and kelp forest restoration are vital — and beautifully complementary.
Your Purchases Powered Crayweed
Thanks to your incredible support over the weekend, we were able to add another $1,000 from sales directly to our Operation Crayweed pledge — helping to bring Sydney’s lost kelp forests back to life.
So thank you — truly. By choosing food and skincare that’s good for you, you’re also doing something extraordinary for the planet.
Together, we’re not just talking about change. We’re growing it.
