Ocean Collaborations

The day before we sat down in Kiel, a Second World War bomb was found next to our train in Hamburg. The next morning, every phone in the room started screaming.
That was the start of the week Graham Patterson (REEF Roundup) and I spent in northern Germany for a three-part documentary series.
Below the surface of the North Sea and the Baltic lie 1.6 million tons of munitions. Not lost in battle. Put there on purpose, after the war was over.
We met the people who decided, 80 years later, to go back down and bring it up: divers, a toxicologist, a retired navy officer who spent his retirement in the archives, a naval architect, and a chemist who isn’t sure the risk is what we all assumed.
Questions we couldn’t stop asking:– Why would anyone sink a war into the sea, and who signed for the boxes?– What can a frozen mussel from 1985 tell us about today?– Is this really a ticking time bomb, or is the clock something else entirely?– Why do coastal towns say “please, do it here” instead of “not in my backyard”?

I expected a story about the past. About my grandfathers. What I found was one of the rarest things in ocean work: a problem that went from first alarm to real solution in about a decade, because scientists, ministries, companies and citizens chose to pull in the same direction.
If you’ve ever felt that change in ocean conservation is too slow, too fragmented or too lonely, this episode is for you.
Episode 1 of Forget-Me-Not is out now. 🎧 Put your headphones on and start with the alarm.
This episode was made possible by SEASCAPE Hamburg. Thank you Wolfgang Sichermann for the ocean collaboration: https://seascape.deA special thank you goes to Andreas Beerlage for the help in preparing our packed three interview days (and this amazing fish restaurant we went together).
Link List:
Press Release of the Germany Ministry for Environment (BMUKN) to announce the winners of the tender process to construct the worlds first platform for ocean dumped munitions (german): https://www.bundesumweltministerium.de/pressemitteilung/bundesumweltministerium-erteilt-auftrag-zur-entwicklung-einer-mobilen-entsorgungsplattform-fuer-munition-im-meer
Mentioned companies and organsations of this episode:
SeaTerra: https://seaterra.deGeomar: https://www.geomar.de/University of Kiel (Insitute for Toxicology): https://www.toxi.uni-kiel.de/de
You wouldn’t mind a podcast episode for your ocean collaboration project? Don’t hesitate to get in touch! https://janmaisenbacher.com/en/ocean-podcast/




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Marine conservation faces a tough reality: philanthropic grants are shrinking just as ocean crises accelerate. Drawing boundary lines only creates “paper parks” - marine protected areas lacking financial durability, enforcement, and authentic local ownership.
In this episode of Ocean Collaborations, Jan Maisenbacher sits down with Angelique “Angie” Brathwaite, Director of Conservation and Science at Blue Alliance, to unpack what scalable, self-sustaining ocean protection looks like on the ground.
With over two million hectares of coral reef under co-management across Indonesia, the Philippines, and Zanzibar, Blue Alliance bridges policy, science, and market realities. Angie outlines their pioneering model of “reef-positive enterprises” -initiatives like restorative sea cucumber aquaculture and regenerative ecotourism that generate commercial revenues to fund ongoing conservation, science monitoring, and local patrol teams.
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Crucially, Angie details the human side of impact: hiring local leaders, listening deeply to artisanal fishers, and merging technical science with ancestral knowledge.
For ocean changemakers, impact investors, and scientists seeking practical solutions beyond traditional donor cycles, this dialogue delivers an honest, pragmatic masterclass.
Tune in now to discover how innovative enterprise and deep collaboration are regenerating our ocean for the long haul.
Connect with Angie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelique-brathwaite70
Blue Alliance Links:
* Internet: https://bluealliance.earth/
* on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blue-alliance-mpa/
Angie’s Voice of the Ocean Music: Listen to Natural Mystic from Bob Marley on youtube here (watch it on Substack)
Podcast Ocean Collaborations is produced out of Switzerland by janmaisenbacher.com: https://janmaisenbacher.com/en/ocean-podcast/ Subscribe on Substack, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.


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We talk constantly about regenerating the ocean - but who is regenerating the people doing the work?In my very first solo episode, I step behind the mic to get honest about ocean conference exhaustion, superficial networking, and change leader burnout.
How do we move from passive panels to transformative retreats and radical collaboration?
Tune in to Episode 37 for an intimate reflection on creating sanctuaries for impact, inner resilience, and what’s next for Ocean Collaborations in 2027.
If my collaboration invitation of this episode speaks to you, don’t hesitate to reach out: info@janmaisenbacher.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janmaisenbacher/
More information about me: https://janmaisenbacher.com/en/about-jan-maisenbacher


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What if marine conservation began not with another boundary on a map, but with a question: who has lived with this ocean, and what do they already know?
In this new episode of Ocean Collaborations, Jan Maisenbacher speaks with Ihirau Piton, a 23-year-old Tahitian anthropology student and Pacific youth leader. His starting point is disarmingly clear: “Protecting the ocean cannot come without protecting the people.”
Ihirau takes us inside Tiaki Moana, a 2025 gathering that brought young people from across Oceania to French Polynesia to explore conservation beyond the usual marine protected area model. The conversations happened in an amphitheatre, on the beach, and long after the formal programme ended. The point was not only to exchange ideas, but to rebuild relationships across an ocean that connects communities often kept apart.
You’ll hear about rāhui: a Polynesian practice of temporarily restricting the use of a resource so it can recover. It is not a conservation “toolkit” to copy and paste. It belongs to a living cultural context -and raises a bigger question for all of us working in ocean regeneration: can policies succeed when they treat local people as an afterthought?
This is also an honest conversation about deep-sea mining, industrial fishing, colonial legacies, tourism, and the uneasy gap between protecting nature in principle and making a living in practice.
For anyone trying to build collaboration that is courageous, locally grounded and more than blue blah blah, this episode offers a needed reset.
Listen now - and stay with the question Ihirau leaves us with: what changes when we understand the ocean not as a place apart, but as part of who we are?
This is the third episode resulting from the media partnership with “One Ocean Science Congress” which happened in Nice 2025. Here are the other two episodes:#27 Alice Guittard: Advancing a Sustainable Blue Economy in the Black Sea
#24 Jorge Ramirez: Participatory Ocean Science on GalapagosYou are managing an ocean conference? Looking for a fitting media partner? Get in touch & let’s collaborate! info@janmaisenbacher.com

Linklist:
* Ihirau Piton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ihirau-piton-83827a285/
* Blue Cradle Projectpage: https://bluecradle.org/tiaki-moana
* Tiaki Moana Report: https://bluecradle.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Tiaki-Moana-Report.pdf
* Video Teaser (youtube): Guardians of the Ocean (watch it on Substack):
* Longer cinema documentary: (n.a. currently)



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If you’ve spent any time in the corporate or NGO world, you know the “incremental” trap. We celebrate 2% gains while the system we’re trying to save is heading South at 100mph.
My guest Clare Brook reached that breaking point in 2014. After 24 years in sustainable finance-pioneering ESG before it was a buzzword - she realized that moving the dial “gradually” through investor engagement wasn’t just slow; it was running out of time. She didn’t just want to nudge the needle; she wanted to change the instrument.
Today, as CEO of Blue Marine Foundation, she leads one of Europe’s most ambitious marine conservation groups. In the latest episode of the Ocean Collaborations podcast, Clare breaks down what it actually looks like to lead transformational - not just incremental- change in our waters.
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We often talk about the goal: 30% of the ocean protected by 2030 (the “30x30”). But Clare focuses on the how. At Blue Marine, they use what she calls the “Octopus” model. It’s a structure where the body drives projects across 30 countries, while eight distinct “tentacles” - from investigations and legal action to economics and media -work simultaneously to unlock systemic change.
One of the fascinating parts of our conversation was the “Regeneration Generation” initiative in the Caribbean. We often see conservation as a cost, but Clare is reframing Marine-Protected Areas (MPAs) as a virtuous cycle. It’s about solving “brain drain” by creating high-tech, purpose-driven livelihoods for the next generation - drone operators, data scientists, and educators - built on the foundation of a healthy reef. The job topic in MPA’s reminded me of the episode #33 I had around social entrepeneurship with Wietse Van Der Werf from Sea Ranger Service (listen here).
If you’re frustrated by political apathy or the David vs. Goliath reality of standing up to industrial overfishing, this episode is the shot of courage you need.
Clare discusses the short-termism of political cycles and why we need a “social contract with nature” that outlasts the next election.
Curious about how to build a change coalition that actually moves the needle?
Listen to the full episode on Substack (Spotify, or Apple Podcasts).
Here’s the link to the mentioned youtube video:“The Bottom Line with Stephen Fry and Theo James”
Jan met Clare Brook in Nice 2025 during the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3)
Add-on about the social contract with nature :
We talked how we can get back in touch with nature and ways how to interact with animals. As mentioned from Jan here are two links to recent solutions that decode animal voices:
Project CETI: https://listen.projectceti.org/
Earth Species Project: https://earthspecies.org/
Clare Brook on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clarebluemarine/
Blue Marine Foundation Webpage: https://www.bluemarinefoundation.com/
On Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/bluemarinefoundation



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit janmaisenbacher.substack.com