Episodes

  • Will Gertler - From subsistence to sushi-grade: empowering East African artisanal fishers.
    Oct 29 2025


    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ ๐—˜๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ #๐Ÿฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—•๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ข๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜„! ๐ŸŸ๐Ÿ’™


    ๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฏ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ-๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ: ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—˜๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—”๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€.


    I really loved our last conversation with Will Gertler, CEO of Kumbatia Seafood. Will and his team are striving to demonstrate that market-based conservation solutions can actually work in the field. In Blue Builders' last episode, Will explains in detail how he built Kumbatia Seafood training artisanal fishers and connecting them to international premium markets to boost their revenue while improving the sustainability of their fishing practices.


    ๐—ช๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ:

    โœ… Why traditional conservation models can sometimes fail fishing communities and how financial incentives can change the game

    โœ… The challenge of building an entire value chain from scratch in Kenyan remote coastal areas: from off-grid cold storage to FDA-certified processing

    โœ… Finding the subtle balance between profitability and impact measurement as an impact venture

    โœ… What is at stake in the Western Indian Ocean in terms of industrial fishing


    ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ "๐˜๐˜ง ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜’๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ข, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฌ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜บ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ'๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ดo."


    With 60% of coastal Kenya living in poverty, marine conservation often comes at the expense of economic livelihoods. But what if access to premium markets could drive both income growth AND marine ecosystem recovery?


    #BlueBuilders #MarketBasedConservation #SustainableSeafood #ArtisanalFisheries #BlueEconomy #ImpactEntrepreneurship #MarineConservation #EastAfrica #SocialEnterprise #OceanSolutions #CommunityEmpowerment



    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    45 mins
  • Marine Conservation Institute - Are marine protected areas really effective?
    Sep 19 2025

    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ ๐—˜๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ #๐Ÿฑ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—•๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ข๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜„! ๐ŸŒฑ๐Ÿ’™


    At UNOC3 back in June, momentum toward protecting marine ecosystems gained ground with global marine protected area coverage rising from 8% to 10% as countries like Tanzania, Colombia, or French Polynesia announced new MPAs. But as these numbers grow, a fundamental question emerges: how effective are Marine Protected Areas in actually protecting our oceans?


    We're addressing this concern head-on with this 5th episode of Blue Builders in which we speak with Lance Morgan (President) and Sarah O. Hameed (Director of Blue Parks) from the Marine Conservation Institute who have been advocates for effective marine protection from the early days.


    ๐—ช๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ:

    โœ… The gap between political announcements and ocean reality - why governments love MPAs that don't actually protect

    โœ… Why reaching 30% ocean protection by 2030 requires authentic community-led engagement

    โœ… The Cabo Pulmo transformation - how community leadership turned a depleted ecosystem into one with 400% biomass increase

    โœ… My 7-year-old burning question: did Lance really see the Titanic during his submarine missions in the deep?


    Lance and Sarah's 30 years of experience shows that when MPAs are designed with local leadership, they don't just preserve biodiversity - they enhance fishing opportunities outside park boundaries and create sustainable livelihoods. Marine Conservation Institute is recognized worldwide for its ๐—•๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—”๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐˜€ (recognizing the MPAs worldwide that truly work) and for their ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—”๐˜๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€ a fantastic tool tracking MPA effectiveness globally. https://mpatlas.org/mpaguide/


    ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ โ€œ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ.โ€


    #NatureBuilders #BlueBuilders #MarineConservation #OceanProtection #BlueParks #CommunityConservation #30by30 #MarineConservationInstitute #SustainableOceans #ConservationLeadership

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    43 mins
  • Brian Tsuyoshi Takeda - Beyond Blue Carbon: the true value of ocean restoration
    May 29 2025


    ๐ŸŒ ๐—ช๐—ฒ'๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—จ๐—ก๐—ข๐—–๐Ÿฏ โ€“ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—จ๐—ก ๐—ข๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ก๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ! ๐ŸŒŠ


    As global attention turns to the health of our oceans and the urgent need for marine restoration, at Nature Builders Podcasts weโ€™re continuing to spotlight the innovators driving change.


    ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ ๐—˜๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ #๐Ÿฐ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—•๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ข๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜„! ๐ŸŒฑ๐Ÿ’™


    In this new episode of the Blue Builders Podcast, we sit down with Brian Tsuyoshi Takeda, founder of Urchinomics, CEO at Restorae, and Secretary of the Japan Blue Economy Association to explore kelp forests and how Japan is leading the way with state-backed blue carbon credit systems.


    ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ โ€œ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฑ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ญ, ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ญ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ด... ๐˜ช๐˜ต'๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜บ, ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต. ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ต'๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜บ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด.โ€


    ๐—ช๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ:

    โœ… What exactly kelp is and why it plays such a big role in marine biodiversity

    โœ… Why we should stop talking about blue carbon credits and consider natural capital instead

    โœ… How seaweeds are moving from an emerging to a mature solution in carbon markets

    โœ… How come blue natural capital credits are trading at $600 a ton (vs $30 for terrestrial)

    โœ… Whatโ€™s next for the market as a whole with K-credits and the EU restoration law


    ๐Ÿ“ฉ Always happy to hear your thoughts โ€” feedback and questions welcome.

    #UNOC3 #BlueCarbon #MarineRestoration #CarbonCredits #JapanBlueEconomy #SeaweedRestoration #BlueEconomy #OceanConservation #ClimateAction #Sustainability #BlueBuilders #MarineConservation #CarbonMarkets #Podcast


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    46 mins
  • Markus Knigge - Blue Action Fund from global pledges to local actions
    May 21 2025

    ๐ŸŒŠ๐Ÿ ๐ŸŒIn this new episode of the Blue Builders Podcast, I sit down with Markus Knigge, who shares his insights from years of working in conservation funding and project implementation across multiple continents.

    This conversation explores the delicate balance between challenges and hope in environmental conservation work - from witnessing climate change impacts firsthand to seeing the transformative power of well-directed funding and strong partnerships.

    We notably discussed:

    โœ… How global ocean commitments translate to real action on the ground

    โœ… Why funding only works with the right local partners to drive change

    โœ… What actually makes Marine Protected Areas effective, not just lines on a map

    โœ… Key expectations for the upcoming UN Ocean Conference in France

    โœ… Honest assessment of which local conservation successes can truly scale

    Markus's perspective on viewing conservation like a chess board - where every organization is just one piece in a larger strategy - offers a compelling framework for

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    47 mins
  • Alex de Caters - insect proteins in 2025: an effective tool for marine conservation?
    May 7 2025

    ๐ŸŒŠ ๐—˜๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ #๐Ÿฎ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—•๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ข๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜„! ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŸ

    โ€œ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜บโ€

    In this new episode of the Blue Builders by Nature Builders Podcasts, I sit down with Alex de Caters, co-founder of Entobel, alongside Gaetan Crielaard. Based in Vietnam, Entobel is developing insect protein as a sustainable alternative for aquaculture feed.

    ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ, with several major players facing financial difficulties and some questioning the viability of insect protein altogether. Against that backdrop, we took a step back to explore the bigger picture, the challenges of the aquaculture industry and Entobelโ€™s long game.

    ๐—ช๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—นy ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ:

    โœ… The link between aquaculture, fishmeal, and marine biodiversity loss

    โœ… How insects like the black soldier fly can reduce pressure on wild fish stocks

    โœ… The complexity of scaling a bioconversion company from lab to industry

    โœ… The ups and downs of building Entobel from scratch in Vietnam

    โœ… Why cost efficiency is now make-or-break for the insect protein sector

    Alexโ€™s journey is one of resilience, iteration, and long-term vision, a great example of what it means to be a Blue Builder.


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    41 mins