12 Tides

12 Tides works to support ocean health through regenerative ocean farming of kelp, a type of seaweed that plays a vital role in preserving marine ocean ecosystems and combatting climate change. It does this through the production and sale of 12 Tides branded organic kelp snacks.

Billions of people around the world rely on the ocean for their livelihoods and food. Healthy oceans, in turn, rely on seaweeds such as kelp, which afford multiple “ecosystem services” to their waters and inhabitants. These include providing a habitat and food for fish and other aquatic creatures, like sea stars, otters, and shellfish; preventing coastal erosion; and filtering pollutants. Kelp (and other seaweed) forests also play a critical role in combatting climate change; indeed, they are known as “blue carbon sinks” because they absorb carbon dioxide emissions at a rate up to 20 times greater than that of land-based forests. Climate change and warming waters have seriously damaged kelp forests in many areas of the world; the California coast alone lost 93 percent of its kelp between 2014 and 2016. 

12 Tides seeks to reverse this loss and support ocean health through regenerative ocean kelp farming. The company sources sugar kelp from small-scale regenerative farmers in Maine and produces its snacks in San Francisco. Its investment in kelp aquaculture helps protect the ocean and the climate, supports smallholder seaweed farmers, and even benefits big commercial fisheries. Kelp is also a highly nutritious food source, filled with vitamins and minerals that occur naturally in the ocean, and it requires “zero-input,” to grow, meaning no arable land, freshwater, fertilizers, or pesticides. 12 Tides takes an additional step in its quest to restore ocean health by its partnership with SeaTrees which plants “trees” in the ocean. It also uses sustainable packaging for its snacks rather than single-use, petroleum-based plastic containers. 

King Philanthropies’ investment in 12 Tides will help the company become a regenerative and sustainable force in the seafood industry.