The New England Aquarium and the blue economy

The New England Aquarium’s plaza, in a 2017 photo.

— Photo by Beyond My Ken

Edited from a New England Council report

BOSTON

“The New England Aquarium is using its family-oriented reputation to educate and help grow the blue economy. This multi-pronged approach brings together big names from the industry, young and small startups and businesses, and academic experts.

‘‘The first initiative involves industry and the market working with the aquarium’s BalanceBlue lab to help promote sustainable ocean use, from improved fishing practices and carbon removal innovations. ‘You can’t have a climate conversation without the ocean. All the programs come together to think about how we are going to create new pathways to promote responsible ocean use,’ said Emiley Lockhart, the aquarium’s associate vice president for ocean sustainability.

“The BalanceBlue lab includes the bluetech incubator BlueSwell, which helps startups working on both ocean sustainability and the marine economy. BlueSwell has helped four startups receive funding and mentorship since 2020. An additional part of the BalanceBlue umbrella is the UpSwell program, which runs in collaboration with SeaAhead and is publishing a series of webinars and papers about ocean tech. According to Lockhart, the blue economy will be expanding rapidly, and he believes that ocean-derived technology will be an important part of that growth, with the New England Aquarium leading that growth.’’