5 Ways You Can Actually Help the Ocean

"💙💙💙" - And no, posting three blue hearts on Instagram for World Ocean Day isn't one of them.

The ocean produces every second breath you take, regulates the climate that grows your food, and absorbs about a third of the CO₂ we put into the atmosphere. Yet of all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, SDG 14 — Life Below Water — is the most underfunded of them all. At the UN Ocean Conference in Nice in June 2025, nations officially acknowledged the gap. We need an estimated $175 billion a year to meet the goal. Only $30 billion has been disbursed since 2010.

The good news: you don't need a foundation or a research vessel to help. You need five things.

1. Rethink seafood — or skip it altogether

Roughly 35.5% of assessed global fish stocks are estimated to be overfished and overfishing has been climbing about 1% per year (FAO, 2025). Cod, mackerel, tuna, sharks — many populations sit at, or close to, collapse. Even where stocks are recovering, the methods used to catch them — bottom trawling, longlining, intensive aquaculture — devastate habitats far beyond the species on your plate. North Sea bottom trawlers kill an estimated 16 kg of marine animals for every 1 kg of sole landed.

But aren't labels supposed to solve this? Sadly, not always. One investigation found 83% of MSC-certified catches between 2009 and 2017 came from industrial, high-impact fisheries like bottom trawling and dredging. 62% of consumers believe the blue tick means low or no environmental damage. It often doesn't.

The simplest move is to eat less seafood — treat it as occasional rather than default. If you do buy it, look beyond logos. Local, small-scale, and line-caught from a fishery you can name beats a generic eco-label most of the time. The Marine Conservation Society's Good Fish Guide (UK) and Monterey Bay's Seafood Watch (US) are useful starting points — imperfect, but better than guessing.

2. Reduce your plastic — especially single-use

We're dumping 12 million metric tons of plastic into the ocean every year. The cumulative total is now estimated at 75 to 199 million tons. About 92% of it is microplastic — particles smaller than 5 mm, eaten by plankton, by fish, and ultimately by us. So PLEASE STOPbuying synthetic clothing, whether recycled or not - it breaks down into millions of microplastic fibers and goes straight into the ocean.

The fix isn't perfection. It's substitution. Single-use plastic is the easiest place to start: water bottles, takeaway packaging, supermarket produce bags, cling film. Refillable formats — shampoo bars, solid soaps, refillable cleaners, glass containers, toothpaste tablets — have finally caught up. Small changes compound: keep in mind we are 8 billion people - imagine if we all shifted to exclusively use soap bars and toothpaste tablets - do the math!

3. Buy from planet- and ocean-positive businesses

What you buy has more impact than it seems. Supply chains connect back to the ocean in ways we rarely see. Choosing brands that are transparent about their sourcing — and better still, that actively fund ocean restoration — is one of the easiest ways to create change without changing your whole life. Even small choices add up quickly!

A short, hand-picked list of brands worth supporting:

• Wine — Sea Change Wine — donates with every bottle sold; over €750,000 raised since 2018 for partners including Ocean Generation, Olive Ridley Project, and Sea-Changers UK.

• Soap — The Soap & the Sea — Swiss-founded, hand-made, 50% of profits to ocean conservation as standard; in select windows, 100% of sales go to ocean projects.

• Toothpaste — Smyle — plastic-free toothpaste tabs, dentist-recommended, fluoride and fluoride-free options.

• Toilet paper — Who Gives A Crap — recycled, plastic-free, donates 50% of profits to sanitation projects.

• Cleaning products — Seventh Generation — plant-based, low-toxicity, gentler on marine ecosystems than conventional alternatives.

• Beer — Ocean Beer — brewed locally to keep food miles low, with 100% of profits funding ocean restoration projects. (Well… hopefully you knew that one by now :)

When companies are built around restoring a healthier planet, rather than extracting from it, consumption becomes contribution.

4. Donate — even small amounts — to the right ocean organisations

Ocean conservation is chronically underfunded. SDG 14 is officially the least financed of all UN Sustainable Development Goals, with a funding gap of around 98%. So perhaps we can each contribute just a few euros a month — to the ocean organisations doing incredible work, and most worthy of being accelerated.

A short list of organisations doing serious work:

• Blue Marine Foundation — campaigns for 30% of the ocean protected by 2030. Has already helped safeguard 4.9 million km² across 75+ projects in 29 countries.

• Blue Alliance — builds financially self-sustaining MPAs, funded by blue-economy enterprises (eco-tourism, sustainable fisheries) inside them. Manages 3+ million hectares — about 1.5% of the world's coral reefs.

• One Ocean Planet — ocean literacy and youth empowerment. The Hero Kids programme pairs students with scientists and ocean leaders to turn their ideas into real projects.

• SeaLegacy — co-founded by National Geographic photographers Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen. Uses photography, film and campaigns to drive policy change and accelerate the creation of new MPAs.

• SeaTrees (by Sustainable Surf) — restores "blue carbon" ecosystems: mangroves, kelp, seagrass and coral. 3+ million trees planted worldwide. Mangroves capture carbon 5–10x faster than rainforests.

• WILDCOAST — protects coastal and marine ecosystems across California, Mexico and Latin America. Over 38 million acres conserved — coastlines, turtle beaches, whale lagoons, mangroves and reefs.

• Save Our Rivers — defends the world's last free-flowing rivers from damaging development, equipping communities with the legal tools to fight back. Active campaigns in Wales, Kendal and the Austrian Tyrol. Backed by Patagonia. Healthy rivers = a healthy ocean.

• EOCA — European Outdoor Conservation Association — channels outdoor-industry funding into small, high-impact grassroots projects: €5.7M across 206 projects in 65 countries, covering coastal restoration, freshwater, habitat and plastic clean-ups.

• Oceana Europe & Oceana UK — the world's largest ocean conservation organisation. Policy- and science-led, with 325+ campaign victories. UK office led by Hugo Tagholm, founder of Surfers Against Sewage.

You don't need to give to all of them. Pick one. Set up £5 a month. Consistency is what funds long-term work 😉

5. Stay informed — and talk about it

One of the biggest barriers to ocean protection is simply distance. Many people do not realise how directly their lives are connected to it. Learning a bit more about what is happening beneath the surface and sharing that with others is more powerful than it sounds.

You do not need to become an expert. Just staying curious changes how you see things. Conversations create awareness. Awareness creates pressure. Pressure creates change.

The ocean does not need perfection from us. It needs participation. If enough people start doing small things differently, the impact stops being small.

One last ask. If something in here resonated, share it. The single most useful thing you can do with this post is forward it to one person who hasn't thought about the ocean today. That's how a simple read becomes momentum.

Ocean Born Foundation exists to make ocean restoration fundable, scalable, and woven into everyday life. Ocean Beer — brewed locally, with 100% of profits donated to ocean conservation — is how we're proving the model.