#45: Tom Pickerell (World Resources Institute) – Energy, Food, and Data: This Is Where the Demand Is in the Blue Economy

Send us Fan Mail **Intro:** Continuing on the quest to find out where the demand is for startups to build in the blue economy. Today we get a big-picture view that identifies three pillars, energy, food, and data, and the opportunities lying within each of them. Tom Pickerell thinks that this is where founders should look, and crucially he thinks that a lot of it can be done by leveraging existing technology. He's been an advisor to government ministers, heads of state, and company CEOs on scaling a sustainable ocean economy, so he's got a well-rounded understanding of the challenges, the opportunities, and what needs to be done. **Tom's bio:** Dr Tom Pickerell is Global Director of the Ocean Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI) and head of the Secretariat for the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, a group of 19 serving world leaders working to advance a sustainable ocean economy. He is a marine biologist with over 20 years in ocean sustainability, covering fisheries, aquaculture, climate impacts, and policy. He has worked in UK government and at Pew, WWF-UK, the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch programme, and he was Executive Director of the Global Tuna Alliance, which grew under his leadership from a handful of UK founding members to 53 members covering roughly a third of the tuna sector. He holds a degree in marine biology, a master's in analytical biology, and a PhD in shellfish genetics. WRI is a global research organisation working on climate, nature, and people, with over 1,700 staff and offices around the world. Its Ocean Program focuses on ocean-based climate action, sustainable blue food, ocean equity, and ocean finance, and serves as the Secretariat for the Ocean Panel, whose members have committed to sustainably managing 100% of the ocean under their national jurisdiction, guided by Sustainable Ocean Plans. Tom is based in WRI's London office. **Timestamps:** 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:01:59 - Tom's role at WRI and the Ocean Panel 00:02:59 - The shift from conservation to food, energy, and security 00:04:26 - The three pillars of demand: energy, food, and data 00:06:22 - Five gigatons of savings using technology that already exists 00:09:20 - Decarbonising shipping and why ports are the bottleneck 00:14:04 - Marine protected areas and the return on investment problem 00:16:23 - The 100% approach: protect 30, sustainably use 70 00:26:51 - Blue foods, overfishing, and the 15% of the catch thrown away 00:28:16 - Getting 100% out of a fish, from Iceland to Namibia 00:37:04 - Seaweed and integrated multi-trophic aquaculture 00:39:26 - Ocean data, the funding gap, and who takes the first risk **Useful Links & Resources:** The Ocean Age Walk & Talk - Link to join the waitlist Tom Pickerell on LinkedIn. World Resources Institute: Website, Ocean Program, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (the Ocean Panel): Website. The published Sustainable Ocean Plans Tom mentions in the episode: Ocean Panel. Get in touch with The Ocean Age's host Fed DeGobbi on LinkedIn, X or by emailing directly at fed@oceanage.co The Ocean Age Podcast is edited by Nebojsa Lešević. Sarah Carpenter and Giulia Leanza are our research assistants. Please send in your feedback: what do you want to hear more or less of? Any suggestions? Would love to hear what you think!