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#104 - Feb 2026 | Blue Economy News



This Week in the Blue Economy 🌊


February Blue Economy news wasn't focussed on flashy tech or big funding rounds. The real action was in: governments mapping coastlines, women upgrading traditional industries, and countries building actual infrastructure instead of just talking about it.


All sources at the bottom...


Enjoy!


🌍 Blue Economy Geo Hotspot of the Week


Mediterranean Coast / East Africa


Two very different approaches emerging:


Southern Europe (Italy + Portugal) is going big on state-funded ocean restoration. Italy's mapping its entire coastline for seagrass. Portugal's betting on kelp forests. Both have EU money behind them.


East Africa (Tanzania + Senegal) is proving you don't need fancy tech to make money from the ocean. Women-led groups are processing seaweed and oysters, keeping more profit in their communities, and moving faster than a lot of Western "innovation" projects.

Less about where. More about how.


🚀 Startup / Builder News


1. SeaForester raises €1.6M to plant underwater forests

Portuguese startup SeaForester got funding from WWF and Schmidt Marine to restore kelp forests. Their method is simple: grow kelp on small stones in tanks on land, then drop them in the ocean from boats.


  • Current status: Plants they deployed 2 years ago are now reproducing on their own in Cascais

  • What's next: Taking the model to other countries, working with Norway on kelp that can handle warmer water


Why it matters: Kelp forests capture 5x more carbon than rainforests. They're nurseries for fish. They protect coastlines. SeaForester figured out how to do this at scale without needing a PhD or millions in equipment.



2. Tanzania's SeaBlue Innovators: 400% revenue boost from processing seaweed

Farhiya Elmy, a marine scientist, started SeaBlue Innovators to help coastal women in Tanzania stop selling raw seaweed for pennies. Now they're making cosmetics, food products, and biodegradable materials.


  • The model: Work around women's schedules, teach them business skills alongside marine science

  • The result: Communities keeping 400% more money than before


Why it matters: Most "ocean tech" is complicated and expensive. This isn't. Elmy just cut out the middlemen and taught people how to add value. That's it. And it's working better than most venture-backed startups.


Read more: Streamline Feed


3. Senegal turns oyster harvesting into a national strategy

Senegal threw a National Oyster Day in January to show off where the industry is headed. Right now, women harvest about 16,000 tonnes of oysters from mangroves. The government wants to 5x farmed production by 2032.


  • Focus: Keep women at the centre, add processing facilities, improve food safety

  • The environmental play: Farming oysters protects mangroves instead of destroying them


Why it matters: Most development projects show up, build something new, and ignore the locals. Senegal's doing the opposite—upgrading the people who are already there.


Read more: APA News


🏛️ Highlight


Portugal's €87M bet on being Europe's blue economy hub

Portugal isn't just funding startups like SeaForester. They're building infrastructure—€87M going to the Blue Hub, which links universities, research centers, and companies. They're using EU programs like BlueInvest to attract ocean ventures.



đź“Ť Event Highlight


ABOFA – Aqaba Blue Ocean: Future in Action

Sept 9–12, 2026 | Aqaba, Jordan


Jordan's launching a new blue economy event covering diving, marine tech, water sports, and tourism. It's a partnership between event organizers (1st Arabia + Fira Barcelona) and the Aqaba Development Corporation.


Most ocean conferences are either all business or all policy. ABOFA is trying to do both, plus pull in consumers.


Jordan has good geography (Red Sea, close to Gulf markets) but not many startups. Whether this becomes a real hub or just another conference depends on what happens after: actual contracts, investment, regulatory changes.


Concluding Remarks


Three things to take away:

1. Boring infrastructure beats sexy innovation (sometimes): Italy mapping seagrass and Ireland publishing ocean economy data are doing more for the industry than most "innovation challenges." You need to measure before you can manage.


2. Women-led businesses are outperforming VC-backed ones (ish): Tanzania and Senegal are showing that giving people market access and training works better than dropping in complex tech. The bottleneck isn't technology—it's access and know-how.


3. Southern Europe is quietly winning LFG: Portugal and Italy aren't just funding companies. They're building the public goods (data, regulations, networks) that everyone can use. That's how you build a real industry, not just a few exits.


Sources:




 
 
 

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