Some experts had claimed that no life could survive in the crushing darkness of the ocean’s depths, and that assumption had led to proposals to use the deep sea as a dumping ground for nuclear waste. But my father and his team encountered living fish – a discovery that prevented a potentially catastrophic mistake.
My father’s mission underscores what exploration has always meant to my family. It is not about conquest and domination, but rather curiosity and understanding. Studying nature expands not only the frontiers of our knowledge, but also the scope of our responsibility as planetary stewards.
Today, the ocean is under greater threat than ever, and not only because the United States has just set the stage for private companies to pursue deep-sea mining in international waters. Despite decades of warnings, humanity continues to treat the ocean as an inexhaustible resource and a bottomless dumping ground.
We are suffocating it with plastic, heating it with emissions, poisoning it with chemicals, and depleting it by overfishing. But the biggest danger is subtler: As was true in 1960, there is glaring gap between what we know and what we are doing.
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We cannot afford to wait for the perfect implementation of perfect treaties…We already know the solutions, and we have the tools to pursue them. What is missing is the will.
While we speak of binding treaties and ambitious targets, our actions remain fragmented and insufficient. Even as the ocean’s degradation accelerates, governments often take refuge behind the complexity of global consensus-building, using it as an excuse for inaction.
As a result, fishing vessels engaged in illegal practices, such as destructive bottom trawling in marine protected areas, are still permitted to sell their catch freely in ports and markets. Although regulations exist, enforcement is weak, sporadic, or simply absent.
But we cannot afford to wait for the perfect implementation of perfect treaties. Nor should we use others’ failure to address the problem as an excuse for our own inaction. After all, we already know the solutions, and we have the tools to pursue them. What is missing is the will.
At the Solar Impulse Foundation, we have identified more than 1,800 clean and profitable strategies and tools that reconcile economic growth with environmental preservation. Many focus on strengthening regenerative and sustainable practices in the blue economy – from technologies that track illegal fishing and monitor vessel movements from space, to innovations in low-carbon shipping, plastic waste prevention, and regenerative aquaculture.
Our recent Ocean Opportunity Guidemapping ocean-focused innovation, shows just how broad and mature these solutions are. From bio-enhancing concrete that supports marine life to seaweed-based alternatives to single-use plastic and traceability platforms that eliminate greenwashing in seafood value chains, these are not theoretical models; they are real tools already being deployed around the world. Behind them stands a growing ecosystem of entrepreneurs, scientists, and engineers.
Equally, new financial mechanisms are emerging to bridge the gap between innovation and scale. Blended finance structures, results-based payments, and de-risking vehicles are beginning to unlock capital for nature-based solutions and sustainable aquaculture, particularly in vulnerable coastal economies. These developments show that diverse stakeholders, when aligned, can build an innovation ecosystem capable of solving one of the world’s most complex challenges.
The solutions we highlight are tested, scalable, and economically sound. They do more than protect ecosystems; they also create jobs, stimulate new markets, and reduce long-term operational risk. Clean innovation in the ocean economy is already generating competitive advantages for forward-looking companies and countries.
Financial instruments that de-risk nature-based investments are helping to stabilise coastal economies and expand access to new forms of capital. And circular economy solutions like seaweed-based packaging and marine-life-friendly infrastructure are not only reducing environmental harm, but also lowering material costs and strengthening supply-chain transparency.
In short, ocean preservation is becoming an engine of industrial renewal and geopolitical resilience. As an economic development strategy, it is both future-proof and inclusive, and it appeals to investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers alike. But to unlock this potential, we must change the narrative. Sustainability is not about sacrifice; it is about modernisation, innovation, and efficiency.
Far from an environmental constraint, ocean preservation is a catalyst for a more dynamic, resilient global economy. As such, it should be recognised as the new frontier of exploration. Our task is to discover not uncharted depths, but better systems.
Like the entrepreneurs featured in the Ocean Opportunity Guidewe should all be questioning what we have built and considering how it can be improved. The spirit of exploration must guide us toward regeneration, not exploitation. It must inspire us to stop waiting for others, and to start demonstrating the leadership that this moment demands.
Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss explorer, is the founder of the Solar Impulse Foundation.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2025.
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