What we do

We offer a crucial weapon for fighting climate change and boosting fish populations using a technology that converts CO2 – the greenhouse gas causing global warming – into ocean fish food.

About Us

We began in 2005 and have completed over 100 days of ocean testing in the US (TX, CA, OR, HA), Bermuda, Peru, and Newfoundland. With this extensive global effort, we can now estimate the new fish grown each year by each of our upwelling pumps. This technology also provides atmospheric carbon dioxide removal using one of nature’s most efficient CO2 sponges, the ocean. With little impact on the environment and only using renewable wave and solar energy, our ocean upwelling pumps generate a flow of nutrient-rich seawater from the deep ocean twilight zone to the sunlit surface. That’s where Mother Nature takes over, converting the excess CO2 in seawater into phytoplankton which are the food supply for all other ocean life.

The video below shows our engineering test off Port Hueneme, CA.

THE OCEAN UPWELLING TECHNOLOGY PROCESS

Artificial upwelling is a process where machines are used to move water from the deep ocean (twilight zone) to the surface (sunlit zone). The technology uses wave energy to help bring deep, cold, nutrient-rich seawater to the surface. When this happens, more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air dissolves into the water. This CO2 can then be used by tiny plants called phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are like the grass of the ocean; they use CO2 and sunlight to make energy (photosynthesis). As they grow, they create fish food. Fish eat these phytoplankton and then bigger animals like whales and dolphins eat the fish. It’s like a big chain of food that starts with CO2 and ends with big animals. By using artificial upwelling, we can help create more food for the ocean creatures while also helping to decrease the amount of CO2 in the air, which is good for the planet right now.

Marine snow is like a snowstorm in the ocean. It’s made of tiny bits of dead plants and animals, as well as other small particles, that sink down from the surface waters to the bottom of the ocean. This sinking process is called “sequestration” because it’s like putting the carbon (which is in the dead plants and animals) in a big storage container called the ocean floor.

Why ocean upwelling technology?

In the oceans, nutrients needed to grow fish in the surface ocean are trapped 100’s meters deep. Upwelling of these nutrients is a natural process, but it only happens randomly, meaning fish growth is limited – often too little to replace the fish being caught. When too many fish are caught, their populations plummet, and natural reproduction is not enough to restore health to the ocean. Our ocean upwelling technology corrects this by enabling the growth of more fish.

Powered entirely by wave and solar energy.
Takes advantage of existing biological processes.
Low cost of operation.
Self-deploys when lowered onto the sea surface.
Freely drifts with the currents, growing more fish across the open ocean.
Monitored continuously via satellite.

Helps compensate for overfishing

Plan for implementation

In 2023 and 2024, Ocean-based Climate Solutions, Inc. plans to build three 400 m ocean upwelling pumps and deploy them off Hawaii to begin converting CO2 into ocean fish food and restore that region of the North Pacific.

The need for our technology is predicted to increase as more companies adopt sustainability as their core business model. Our partners may include airlines, energy suppliers, manufacturing companies, and other high-emission industries wishing to convert their CO2 emissions into fish food, boosting fish populations, mitigating overfishing, and restoring our planet.

Learn more