Balanced Ecosystems

Healthy oceans mean balanced ecosystems, and each species has a job. Seaweed absorbs nutrients and releases oxygen, while shellfish filter bacteria and particles from the water and build habitat other marine life depends on. This kind of recovery work helps move a site toward Good Environmental Status, the standard used to judge whether our seas are actually healthy.

Grow both seaweed and shellfish together, and it isn’t just the water that benefits – it’s the fish, the crabs, and the birds and marine mammals that come to shelter and feed in what’s growing there too. It’s why we have developed methods to grow mussels, oysters, and scallops alongside our seaweed on the same modular ocean health systems.

The System

Kelpedo™ grows shellfish just as readily as it grows seaweed. Over the last five years, we've been nurturing shellfish at our Marine Recovery Zone on the same system, showing how mussels, oysters and scallops can be grown alongside seaweed, reliably, effectively and wherever needed.

Case Study

Blue mussels are struggling along the UK’s intertidal coast, with big implications for the wider marine ecosystems. By contrast, we see a completely different picture at our Marine Recovery Zone – not only are mussels recruiting naturally, but they are also growing exceptionally well. It's the clearest sign we have that mussels treat this water as home, and that our system supports their growth. Each unit can carry up to 10,000 mussels, building reefs in miniature exactly where we put them and supporting cleaner water as they grow.

We have years of data showcasing our mussel growth, highlighted in the Defra supported marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme report (see link). Additional evidence is being reported in a second commissioned report, please ask for details.

Read the mNCEA Report

Flexibility

Depending on site conditions and project needs, we can grow seaweed, mussels, oysters, and scallops from the seafloor to the water column, all within the same system designed to improve water quality, build biodiversity, and move a site toward Good Environmental Status.

Restoring our seas

Mature seaweed and shellfish growing on Kelpedo™ can act as an ark populations - like a land-based seed bank. Kelpedo™ can provide a refuge for species under pressure and help repopulate our coastlines.

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A person wearing a red and black life vest holds several browned scallop shells in their hands, with water droplets visible in the air.
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The case for one integrated system to support marine recovery

Kelpedo™ has already proven itself against everything the North Sea throws at it: surviving storms with waves over ten metres, deploying in under twenty minutes, with a footprint smaller than a car parking space, and demobilising quickly if needed. That same system supports shellfish just as readily as it supports seaweed. One system, one point of accountability, wherever the site.

Interested in what this could look like where you are? Get in touch.