SOA Grants: Meet the latest recipients

Sustainable Ocean Alliance exists to propel global solutions to our ocean's crises—and to empower the leaders behind them. SOA's flagship grant program has supported hundreds of youth worldwide in their efforts to implement innovative solutions to ocean issues in their local communities.

Below, we're proud to share some of our latest grant recipients! Some of these projects represent add-on funding to support ongoing work, and some are brand new projects.

Kelp Forest Restoration Research (Mexico and United States of America)

Through her Ph.D. research, Andrea Paz-Lacavex studies the mechanisms of juvenile kelp natural persistence under different climate change scenarios. Her goal is to leverage her resarch to help better inform long-lasting kelp restoration efforts—and ultimately benefit the communities and ecosystems that rely on kelp.

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FishLAT (Blue Latitudes) (United States of America)

Blue Latitudes is a social enterprise led by an all-female executive team that unites science, policy, and communications to create innovative solutions for offshore energy generation and decommissioning.

With this grant, they will continue to develop their Fisheries Location Assessment Technology (FishLAT) tool, which helps ocean managers predict how site-specific removal, reefing, or installation of an offshore energy structure will impact fishing activity and fisheries resources. There are already federal assessments required for developing or removing offshore oil and gas or wind structures, but they do not incorporate site-specific fisheries metrics. Blue Latitudes aims to fill this gap and deploy a robust FishLAT prototype in the Gulf of Mexico by December 2023. 

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Grass Underwater (Tanzania)

Expanding upon work that SOA has supported, SOA Tanzania will now construct a seagrass nursery in consultation with the Fisheries and Education Training Agency (FETA) in Mbegani-Bagamoyo and restore .5km² of coastal seagrass!

SOA Tanzania will train 10 Mbegani community members on sustainable resource use to support coastal livelihoods. They also plan to educate hundreds of people about the importance of seagrass. Additionally, they will pilot a "Blue Market" where local fishers and artisans can sell sustainable goods.

To continue their efforts to operationalize their new organization, they have created a website and will explore carbon credit bundling as a possible revenue source.

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Youth Leaders for Blue Carbon Ecosystems (Cameroon)

Through this SOA Grant, Forbi Perise (SOA Regional Representative for Africa) will bring 70 students from around Cameroon to visit mangrove forests.

These visits are part of an initiative to train 115 young professionals on the importance of blue carbon ecosystems and how to preserve them.

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TransforMAR Project (Brazil)

Paraty is a natural paradise in Brazil that is popular with tourists, but afflicted with overfishing, unchecked trawling, shark predation, and other predatory activities. On top of that, this region struggles with a lack of environmental education in local schools, inconsistent waste collection, and insufficiently treated sewage. TransforMAR seeks to address and mitigate these issues. 

Combining theory and practice, the TransforMAR project integrates the transformative experience of diving with education about biology and marine preservation, helping young people to learn about and live in harmony with nature. Using interaction with marine biodiversity as a catalyst for environmental awareness among young people in situations of social vulnerability, the TransforMAR project works towards a fair, egalitarian society , with sustainable consumption patterns.

This grant is the third that SOA has provided in support of the TransforMAR project. Through this funding, project leaders will continue to deliver marine science education and scuba instruction to inspire and educate youth in the community.

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