Challenge 9: Seas and oceans

Degradation, especially in coastal areas, has accelerated markedly in the last three centuries as industrial discharges and runoff from agricultural operations and coastal cities have increased. Every year, eight million tons of plastics reach the oceans. 66% of the seas show severe alteration due to human impact, which is causing a decline in the quantity and diversity of marine life. Many of the pollutants we find in the oceans are released into the environment long before they reach the coasts. Nitrogen-rich fertilisers, used by agricultural producers in inland areas, end up in local streams, rivers, and groundwater and are later deposited in estuaries, bays, and deltas. This excess of nutrients can cause a massive growth of algae that consumes the oxygen in the water, creating areas where there can be no marine life or where it barely exists. Scientists have discovered 400 dead zones with these characteristics all over the planet. 

• Agricultural fertilisers end up reaching the sea. 
• Solid waste discarded at sea. 
• Marine animals ingest discarded material. 
• Noise pollution. 
• Increase in "dead zones." 

• Innovation in agricultural products that are less harmful to the environment. 
• Reuse waste that pollutes the sea. 
• Promote maritime environmental education and awareness. 
• To increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology in order to improve the health of the oceans. 

FOUNDING TEAM: Javier Colmenarejo and Javier Moya

INNOVATION: Technology that helps to understand the environmental impact of humans on beach waters.

WEBSITE: seawateranalytics.com

Sea Water Analytics is a startup that, through the deployment of its own system of coastal buoys, captures physicochemical parameters of the sea, enriching this data with relevant open source information and with that provided by the user through its app. They apply advanced analytics and sentiment analysis to the entire data set in order to obtain a quality index that is displayed to the user, along with other information that helps improve their user experience at the beach.

FOUNDING TEAM: Boyan Slat

INNOVATION: It helps to understand the environmental impact of humans on beach waters.

WEBSITE: theoceancleanup.com