The Port of San Diego's Innovative Blue Economy Incubator with Former Commissioner Castellanos, Paula, and Jason.

Dive into the transformative power of the Blue Economy with the Port of San Diego's pioneers: Former Commissioner and 2023 Chairman Rafael Castellanos, Program Director Paula Sylvia, and Vice President for Planning and Environment Jason Giffen. Explore the innovative Blue Economy Incubator and discover how it's pioneering a path towards ocean conservation through sustainable aquaculture and advanced blue technology ventures. This episode is a journey from arid heartlands to vibrant coastlines, united by the goal of harmonizing economic progress with the imperative to protect our marine environments. Be inspired by the success stories of companies nurtured by the incubator, spreading their influence globally and driving the emergence of careers in ocean sustainability.

The Port of San Diego’s incubator is among the first in the United States, dedicated to sustainable aquaculture and port-related blue technology ventures. It champions innovative solutions for ocean conservation, including the pioneering installation of bio-enhancing COASTALOCK armored concrete tidal units to bolster marine life and coastal resilience. This initiative cements the Port of San Diego's position as a leader in the blue economy and ocean conservation.

Curious about how you can contribute to ocean health and be part of a sustainable future? Our latest episode invites you to explore the diverse opportunities within the blue economy, regardless of your expertise or background. We illuminate the ways to engage with the community, from educational insights to active participation in groundbreaking ocean projects. Listen as our guests share their expertise and passion, empowering you to join those at the forefront of ocean health and sustainability. This isn't just a conversation—it's a collective march towards a thriving blue planet for future generations.

Interested in submitting your business idea to the Port of San Diego Blue Economy Incubator? Visit: Port of San Diego Blue Economy Incubator.

The Ocean Optimism podcast shares inspiring stories of ocean conservation successes and solutions, featuring interviews with scientists, activists, and leaders from diverse backgrounds who are revolutionizing the future of our ocean, challenging perceptions, and igniting belief in the power of individuals to make a difference. 

The host, Ellen Spooner, a scientist turned storyteller aims to fuel your passion, broaden your horizons, and empower you to have a meaningful impact on ocean conservation. 

Together, we'll explore captivating tales, proven strategies, and initiatives driving positive change, equipping you with solutions and opportunities to actively engage in safeguarding marine ecosystems and bringing the wonders of the ocean into your world. 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hello and welcome to the Ocean Optimism podcast, where we share inspiring stories of ocean conservation successes and solutions. While much of the news focuses on the problems, we want to highlight solutions so we can provide pathways for you to contribute and actively engage in safeguarding our ocean. Together, we'll explore proven strategies and initiatives that have already driven positive change. We interview scientists, activists and leaders from diverse backgrounds who are revolutionizing the future of our ocean. Their captivating tales will challenge your perceptions and ignite your belief that you, too, can make a difference.

Speaker 1: 0:44

I'm your host, ellen Spooner, a scientist turned storyteller. Let's dive in to this Ocean Optimism journey. Today we have the honor of speaking with Rafael Castellanos, the chairman of the Port of San Diego, joined by Paula Silvia, program director of aquaculture technology, and Jason Giffin, vice president for planning and environment at the Port of San Diego. In this episode, they share innovative solutions for ocean conservation, like the Blue Economy Incupator that's inside the Port of San Diego and acts as a launching pad for sustainable aquaculture and port related blue technology ventures. For example, they have the world's first installation of a bio-enhancing concrete tidal unit made by e-concrete, which supports both marine life and coastal resilience, embodying a true win for the Blue Economy.

Speaker 2: 1:49

Hi, this is Rafael Castellanos. I'm the chairman of the Port of San Diego.

Speaker 3: 1:53

I'm Paula Silvia. I'm the program director of our aquaculture blue technology program, which includes our Blue Economy incubator.

Speaker 4: 2:01

Hello, my name is Jason Giffin. I'm the vice president for planning and environment here at the Port of San Diego.

Speaker 1: 2:06

Thank you all so much for coming on the Ocean Optimism podcast For my first question. I just wanted to give our listeners a little bit of background on each of you, and I'll start with the chairman. Could you tell us a little bit about what got you interested in ocean conservation in the first place?

Speaker 2: 2:27

Well, it's a pretty strange journey, considering that I grew up in the high desert of northern Nevada, so the nearest body of water to where I grew up was an irrigation reservoir, so I didn't even see the ocean until I was a young man. When I joined the Port Commission in 2010, I quickly realized that the ocean economy, the blue economy, space, was something that was just extremely fascinating, and in San Diego, a region that's known for its collaboration, for its academic institutions and its innovation, it was particularly interesting, especially once the Port of San Diego really started to take an interest in how we could focus on nature-based solutions, for example, working through our Blue Economy initiative to tackle some of the biggest challenges that we face when it comes to environmental challenges, rise and other climate adaptation strategies.

Speaker 1: 3:31

Very interesting. I also come from a desert background into the ocean conservation world, so I understand that transition well. If next we could go to Paula and you could give us a little bit of your background.

Speaker 3: 3:44

So I didn't grow up in the high desert but I did grow up across the street from the ocean on the east coast of the US, so I've always had some tie to the ocean. I did pursue degrees in marine science and agriculture and then business administration through my career before I ended up at the Port. My background is mostly in agriculture, using the research and the commercial sector, but after coming to the Port and to San Diego, using agriculture as a tool for not just food production but restoration and other uses has become really obvious, and so that can contribute to a lot of our coastal resiliency initiatives and other business opportunities at the Port. So super excited to be in a supportive environment that fills a lot of those buckets for agriculture and Blue Economy opportunities.

Speaker 1: 4:44

Yeah, it definitely sounds like there's lots of opportunities and great work happening. Jason, if you could give us a little bit of your background.

Speaker 4: 4:52

Sure, just briefly. So, born and raised in the southern hemisphere, so I grew up in Sydney, so obviously a strong coastal and beach culture there. So from a young age I was obviously interested in the coastal environment, oceans and beaches. Then, similar to Paula, later in life ended up studying environmental policy, coastal zone management, fisheries on a rave A on the central coast of California and started off as an intern with NOAA and have been with the board now for a little over 11 years.

Speaker 1: 5:28

Wow, that's incredible. And Aussie all the way in San Diego. Well, each of you have talked a little bit about the blue economy incubator, but I was wondering, Chairman, if you could tell us a little bit more about what that entails and how you have been working to educate the general public about this.

Speaker 2: 5:46

Well, first of all, I love the name of your podcast. When I was chairman in 2018, my chairman theme for the year was ocean optimism, so it's in line with something I've been passionate about since I joined the commission. This blue economy space for us has been a real exciting initiative and, like I said, we really are trying to focus on win win win. We're trying to accelerate economic development through these startup companies that we're supporting, that are in this space, whether it's aquaculture, underwater farming or more future-facing blue technology instrumentation, environmental remediation, living shorelines those sorts of things. It helps us achieve our goals with respect to all of our other challenges, and so it's been an exciting project, and every time that we have an opportunity to go on a podcast, we've done a number of these.

Speaker 2: 6:47

Now we were on the Today Show with Al Roker showing him some of our seaweed farming demonstration projects and one of our living shoreline projects as well. So every time we have an opportunity to talk about this space, we embrace it and we truly believe that, just like the Santa Clara Valley came to be known as the Silicon Valley, that the San Diego Bay and the Port of San Diego will one day be known as the Blue Tech Bay. We really believe that, and you've got the best people from the Port on this podcast. We're on the Blue Economy Strike Team the best of the Port of San Diego, so it's really part of our culture. Now Everybody's really excited and so it's all good stuff.

Speaker 1: 7:33

Yeah, this is definitely very exciting. To my understanding, the Port of San Diego is one of the first in the US to have such a Blue Economy incubator, and so, paula and Jason, I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit more about some of the groups that have already been invested in.

Speaker 3: 7:52

Yeah, sure, so we just added our 10th company to our portfolio and the first investment post, COVID. But the first nine, and including this one, range from sediment and water remediation technologies to shellfish and seaweed aquaculture, marine debris removal sensor buoys that collect data in real time for Port environmental parameters, bio-enhancing concrete solutions to substitute for infrastructure along the shoreline and create habitat diversity at the same time. And all of those projects are informing or complementary to other environmental programs at the Port. So that's just to name a few.

Speaker 1: 8:45

You definitely have a lot of projects, exciting projects, going on. I don't know, jason, if there's any more details about any of the specific ones you wanted to add.

Speaker 4: 8:53

Well, I think what I would just say is, from the Port standpoint, what we're also trying to do is to help uplift and support emerging businesses in the Blue Economy space.

Speaker 4: 9:06

There it's a lot of groundbreaking work being done in research, in academic environments, and there's also some really important initial catalyst funding that's coming into the space.

Speaker 4: 9:19

So, from the Port standpoint, though, we wanted to make a direct and tangible contribution, not just to the regional economy but, as a Port of First, really focused on promoting the role that ports can do to elevate emerging companies through this really unique portfolio approach that we've got, focused on facilitating pilot projects. So, when we partner with these companies, not only should it be a good match for the Port and the companies, but we also want it to be focused on addressing some of the most challenging environmental issues that are before us. When you look at the portfolio that we've got that Paula mentioned focusing on alleviating and addressing contamination through environmental remediation projects. They're focusing on deploying infrastructure, which can help with coastal resiliency, or supporting a variety of aquaculture projects to really focus on feeding the world and providing that additional protein source. So some of the examples of types of proposals that we've been adding into the portfolio that really plays into not just what we can do here in San Diego but how that can be scaled and duplicated throughout other coastal economies and ports and harbors throughout the world.

Speaker 1: 10:49

Yeah, I think what's really exciting to me about what you guys are doing is you're not only helping small businesses grow, but these businesses are having an impact and solving some of the many problems, as you've listed, that we're facing here in the city of San Diego. And so, chairman, if you could provide a bit more details about some of your earlier projects and what problems they were solving and some results that you may already be seeing?

Speaker 2: 11:21

Sure. So our very first project that we partnered on is the San Diego Bay Aquaculture Company, which is a company that is in the shellfish farming business, the oyster farming business and so how we helped them was acquiring a very sort of fancy barge. It's called a Flupsy. That's a floating up weller system. It's a barge that has a little basket and it up wells the water into the baskets to nourish the oysters. Because we have warmer water in the San Diego Bay we're able to grow these juvenile oysters at a much faster rate than you can up in the Pacific Northwest. So we really wanted to serve as a link in the supply chain so that we can then sell these oysters to nurseries in the Pacific Northwest and sort of accelerate that Bay to Table experience for consumers.

Speaker 2: 12:22

Now, obviously we are in a bay. We're not on, you know, off of the, you know the coast along the ocean. We have a lot of commerce in our bay. So finding the right location, right from a marine spatial planning perspective, that was a challenge. We're going to put this, even though it doesn't take a lot of space. We have to work with our commercial fishermen.

Speaker 2: 12:44

There's also a perception from our commercial fishing, our traditional commercial fishermen? What is this blue economy thing? What is this aquaculture thing? Is it going to encroach on our industry? The ocean looks vast but, just like any natural resource, there are many competitors who have strong points of view right about what will work and what might not work.

Speaker 2: 13:07

So that was an initial sort of lessons learned about how do we socialize these projects right, not just with respect to the how they function, but the greater sort of the political environment, if you will, the stakeholders who are involved. So I think that was extremely important. A more recent project, but with lessons learned, is this e-concrete project that we're supporting, which is the bioenhancing concrete living shoreline technology that mimics nature's greatest designer, mother Nature, and sort of finding again the right location for this. How often do you test, how often do you observe all of that sort of scientific method? If you will, those lessons learned have been really important to us as we figure out how do we successfully deploy other projects in the future from all of those standpoints. So every project, whether the initial projects or the more current projects, we learn a lot from every single one of these projects.

Speaker 1: 14:13

Yeah, I'm definitely very familiar with the importance of stakeholder engagement and I think it's a continuing learning process for all of us. So it's interesting to hear what you guys have faced in the Port of San Diego and I'm interested to learn a little bit more about this. I think you said eco-concrete, because I know that concrete has got major contributor to climate change, and so it's really fascinating to me that you guys have found a company that's making something that's similar structural integrity but at the same time helping the environment. So I don't know if Paula or Jason, one of you wanted to explain a little bit more, like what is a living shoreline? How is that specific project working?

Speaker 3: 14:59

So e-concrete develops a special bio-enhancing concrete solution to add to concrete mixes that basically allows biodiversity and settlement on the concrete themselves. So traditionally marine concrete or marine infrastructure hasn't really been constructed in such a way to increase biodiversity. So in our case we have over 70% of our shorelines are armored in some way in San Diego Bay, so a lot of it is with traditional riprap or rocks along the shoreline. And so we used for this pilot project we worked with the company which is what we do with all the companies to design a mutually beneficial pilot project, so solving some unique environmental challenge at the port or informing some, you know, new blue economy opportunity. In this case it was hey, how can we replace some of this infrastructure that doesn't have any habitat value with an infrastructure that does have a habitat value while still preserving the integrity of the shoreline?

Speaker 3: 16:08

So we designed tide pool units that interlock together, and the name of those tide pool units are called the coastal lock tide pool unit, and so they were installed in rows and interlocked together in three different rows in two different locations along our shoreline and specifically to look at measuring the structural integrity but also the biodiversity of species that it could attract, and in just two months, dozens of species moved in and two years later, post installation, there's some fantastic data coming from you know over 50 different species are living there. There's more native species compared to non-native species on these habitats. There's more oxygen being produced within the tide pools than surrounding waters. So there's some really wonderful, wonderful results to basically show that you know, these animals are recruiting there and as they recruit and build, you know, more calcium carbonate around these structures. It makes those structures stronger and it also, you know, creates sort of this living shoreline and nature based solution for coastal resiliency in our area.

Speaker 1: 17:23

Wow, that's so cool. I love it. It's very cool.

Speaker 3: 17:27

But it's the first installation of that tide pool unit in the world. So they have now based on our pilot project with that particular unit. Those are being installed in two different countries now but they also apply that concrete solution to other types of marine infrastructure like sea walls and other things in other countries as well. So but our pilot was the first of its kind for that coastal luck type of unit and I might just add.

Speaker 4: 17:58

So to go back to your other question about its benefit towards emission reductions.

Speaker 4: 18:04

As an example, when you start looking at the e-concrete and the system, it was very complementary in terms of what we're trying to do here at the port with our climate action platform, where we're looking at mitigation, how we reduce emissions, adaptation, how we're adapting to a changing environment due to climate change, and then the sequestration potential.

Speaker 4: 18:24

This technology checked all of those boxes in the sense that the manufacturing of the blocks is done locally with local labor, it's produced locally and, additionally, the formula that they have patented for the mixture is less carbon intensive. So first, it has a smaller carbon footprint. Secondly, when you start looking at the adaptation benefits, which Paul had basically walked through with the natural shoreline, that is helping put a technology in place that not only protects upland assets but adds to ecological enhancements. And the fourth piece, or the third piece that we're looking at, is if it's able to recruit shellfish and other types of marine life. There's also this exoskeleton that gets built essentially around the tide pools but also in itself sequestries additional carbon as well. So when you start looking at the combination of mitigation, adaptation, sequestration this is a pilot that is furthering all three of those initiatives.

Speaker 1: 19:27

Wow, that's so incredible. Please forgive my ignorance, but can you explain, chairman, a little bit about how that company makes money and then how that then supports back the port, not just in terms of environmental efforts but also economically?

Speaker 2: 19:46

Sure, so we have negotiated a royalty with this company, so once they are able to scale up the technology and start to sell the units, we will have an economic interest in that.

Speaker 2: 19:59

Now there are going to be major investments, we hope, and you're starting to see these major infrastructure and climate adaptation investments around the world to help make our coastlines more resilient. So those investments will be, I think, primarily driven by government public-private partnerships, and so there is going to be a tremendous demand for this type of technology, and so it's a part of the solution to rising sea levels, more intense storm activity, coastal flooding, and so, as that demand continues to exist, we will have a stake in that solution, and so we look forward to getting this deployed, scaled up and also, of course, helping the port's bottom line. Unlike just about every other government agency I've ever heard of, we don't collect taxes at the Port of San Diego. We're a completely self-sustaining agency that generates its revenue from business operations, from our tenants, from the maritime industry, and so this helps us be more sustainable economically as well, and so that's great for the Port of San Diego.

Speaker 3: 21:11

I could just add one more piece to that to round it out. So the goal of the incubator, the core value proposition of the incubator, is pilot project facilitation, right. So the working with the boss at the Port to design a mutually beneficial pilot project that ideally positions the company to make a strong case study for commercialization coming out of the pilot project. So really positioning them for investment and for scaling. And yes, on the back end of that, if they scale and are successful, then we get our investment back with a little bit of an upside to be able to do more investing in the innovation system.

Speaker 1: 21:54

I think, from what I've read, some of your companies that you have invested in have been able to scale. Is that true, and can you talk a little bit more about that?

Speaker 3: 22:03

Yeah, definitely so. E-concrete would be one example where they're not just because of our pilot, but they have received from our pilot. They received their first five million dollar investment to scale and now they're in 46 different countries doing different types of projects. So not all because of our pilot. They were around a little bit but that really helped, especially in the US environment and especially in the California environment where it's so difficult to deploy anything from a permitting and entitlements perspective, so very valuable. The other is Unconcrete weed.

Speaker 3: 22:43

We actually they had a super successful, very small underwater farm for testing six different types of seaweeds in an urban environment and built a hatchery around that in conjunction with St David's State University and really answered a lot of technical and research questions. We just reinvested in them last year for them to scale in another location to complement their underwater farm by installing land-based tanks to grow culinary seaweeds for the market, and they are already in that marketplace and earning revenue and earning future investment. So those are two examples and I think there's another one, ecosphere that is also in multiple countries now and getting investments because of our pilot with them, which was the Sphere, the sediment remediation technology. So it's just proving that not every company makes it, but that's what it's like in the incubator innovation ecosystem. But for those that do, that's the purpose of us is to help lift them to become attractive for investment once they leave our program.

Speaker 1: 23:53

Yeah, this truly sounds like a win-win-win, I think. As you said earlier, chairman, I definitely am feeling even more optimistic, but I was wondering if you could tell me why you are optimistic about the future of our ocean.

Speaker 2: 24:10

Well, again, I want to thank staff, paul and Jason and all of the other folks at the port who worked on this, and that's part of what gives me such great optimism is we had a really, really wonderful people working on this, the some of the smartest people I've ever worked with real subject matter experts and people who are just very passionate about this space, and so I love to work with them on this, and so that gives me a great deal of confidence. The market speaks for itself. This space went from a $1.5 trillion global economy market and projected to be $3 trillion by the year 2030. So the demand is there. This is accelerating rapidly. We must do this globally.

Speaker 2: 24:53

If we're going to be sustainable as a planet, we have to find sustainable ways to solve these problems, to make sure that we protect and that we maintain our way of life, our quality of life, all over the globe. So it's not just a matter of this is this is neat stuff and it's interesting? Yes, it is, it's fascinating, but it's also critically important that we do this. We must do this and, as Jason indicated, the Port of San Diego. We do consider ourselves a port of firsts, but we don't want to be the only port that's doing this. We want this to be a race to the top. We want to fulfill our role and our potential and share information and collaborate and support and uplift so that as many other centers of excellence and innovation can develop all over the world, and we want to be part of these solutions.

Speaker 1: 25:49

Yeah, definitely. As somebody who lives in San Diego and is already seeing the impacts of climate change and sea level rise, I need these stories to know that we are making an impact and we are having efforts that are already showing beneficial opportunities. Paula, did you want to share what makes you optimistic about the future of the ocean?

Speaker 3: 26:12

Yeah, sure. So just building on the chairman's comments, you know, when the program was created at the port eight years ago, with the blue economy incubator especially underneath that, it was new. It's a brand new procurement pathway for a public agency and a local government to support new public-private partnerships. So it's new. We're learning from everything. Right, and at the same time there's other blue economy innovation happening around the world, right, so maybe happening in a lot of ports, but not led by a port and it's not. So there's accelerators, there's other incubators and other types of programs around the globe and in the country, but we're the only one at the moment that is a port led incubator that specifically offers investment plus pilot project facilitation.

Speaker 3: 27:01

So watching everybody grow up in the space, including ourselves, over the last six or seven years since the program was implemented is really, really promising. So there's a lot of folks in the space now we're all partnering with each other. At the moment there's no competition. Everything's very complimentary. So we have a good local blue economy ecosystem, but we also collaborate with national and international entities to really, you know, have have pipeline sharing but also learning from our experiences and how we can support each other. So just seeing that you know, we just are constantly talking to new partners and and and old partners, like like so many times in a day or a month to increase our collaborative opportunities. So we're just super excited to support more innovation and to scale it and to provide more pathways for for us to support companies even outside the incubator.

Speaker 1: 28:00

Wow, that's awesome, jason, do you want to add on to that?

Speaker 4: 28:05

Perhaps just to wrap things up on that question, from the optimism standpoint, in this space the collaboration in and around the ocean environment and the blue economy it's really strong as opposed to other areas.

Speaker 4: 28:18

Maybe it has to do with the fact that we've all got a common interest managing the global commons which is owned by everyone in the ocean space.

Speaker 4: 28:26

Paul and I had a really unique opportunity just this past September where we were in New York for climate week and as a part of that, we participated in a world economic forum event where they brought together, under the title of the Thousand Ocean Startups, organizations from all around the world, both academics, founders, companies, agencies all working together to focus on what can be done in the blue economy, to focus on addressing climate change, to address some of our most important environmental issues and challenges, and to see people coming from all around the world first to network and share ideas, but then to go back to their own communities, their own locales and really focus on deploying tangible solutions to address issues that are most pressing. If we can scale not just companies but also scale solutions that are portable and and transferable to other in our case, ports and harbors but doesn't have to be just ports and harbors, that that definitely gives me reason to be optimistic. Generally, really feel good about the things that we're doing to move the needle that support communities, the global economy, as well as the environment.

Speaker 1: 29:52

And that's exactly what we're trying to do with this podcast is let people know that people are already making a difference and you don't have to reinvent the wheel when you're trying to work on something. We should learn and collaborate with each other, and it's so great to hear that that is happening within the companies in the blue economy space, within the port, here, and I was wondering, chairman, if you could share. What can a person do if they're interested in getting involved or they want to help make a difference? What do you suggest?

Speaker 2: 30:23

Well, I suppose it depends how old you are. I would love kids in our schools to start asking lots of questions about the blue economy and blue economy opportunities. One of the neatest things about this space is how your imagination can just run wild when you think about some of the jobs that exist because of this space or could exist underwater robotics, technicians, marine spatial planners, aquanauts and who knows, jobs that haven't even been invented yet. I would encourage young people to take an interest and start asking their teachers and others about how they can get involved and how they can learn more about this space. Anyone can reach out to the Port of San Diego, go on our website. We have all of this information there. But I really encourage the young people to learn about this, to pursue it, to be passionate about it and to be the leaders of tomorrow in this space. That's on everybody to be their own leader.

Speaker 1: 31:29

I love that because I feel most people these days, even adults, don't know what blue economy is. The thought of having kids learn and understand what blue economy is is really exciting for me. One of my favorite things that I've read is a lot of the jobs that kids today don't even exist yet. Thinking of this innovation and imagination is really exciting. Paula and Jason, I don't know if there are things you would like to add that individuals of any age can do who want to get involved and help with this work.

Speaker 4: 32:05

Why am I just adding on to it? The focus on students is obviously really important. I think, looking locally in the San Diego area, we have a tremendous amount of resources and upward mobility then into careers that if you study STEM education sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics, and with a focus on the marine environment there's plenty of opportunities right here in San Diego to first get that education, then expand that to whether it's the local university system or elsewhere, to get exposed to these ideas. That's on the education standpoint. I'd agree absolutely with the chairman.

Speaker 4: 32:48

In terms of other outreach, there's simple things that can be done.

Speaker 4: 32:51

It doesn't have to be formal education or a job. There's all sorts of terrific organizations that we work with around the county who are our ambassadors for advocating for environmental education in and around the marine environment. We have more than a bake as dozen of nonprofits that we partner with that bring real world in the field education to students, especially students who are in and go to schools that are Title I schools that might have not the same opportunities as other schools. We have programs like that that we support. There's cleanup events, there's planting events, working with groups like Audubon Society and other groups that go out and study the bird and wildlife that we have in and around San Diego Bay, there's a deeper appreciation for the blue economy. That doesn't have to be purely related to formal, professional or educational background, but just get out there and enjoy it. We've got a beautiful coastline and just by living here you're not a spectator, you can be a participant in the blue economy, and it comes in all forms, whether it be recreation or business.

Speaker 3: 34:06

He loves that I'll just close that one out with. Beyond those types of opportunities for early education and non-educated pathways, we do support internships and most all of our programs our division especially we're working with different fellows, undergraduate fellows, fellowship opportunities and then graduate fellowship opportunities, where we have secret fellows or other types of fellows that get placed with us, that get paid fellowships, that really train them and all the different things that we do, not just aquaculture and blue tech, but other environmental initiatives here at the port. So really good real-world applications. And then if you're a company that is interested in learning more about the incubator, there's an application process. It's online.

Speaker 3: 34:57

The first piece is increase to the program which follow myself and our team to talk to folks and determine if they're ready or not for the incubator and help them, guide them, give them some subject matter expertise. So there's a lot of ways to interact, building on what the chair and Jason were saying at the port, to support, support folks just exploring what is out there, because it's not easy to understand what the blue economy really is Right, it's huge right. So there's obviously so much opportunity and all these huge global challenges that we face have solutions that can be derived from the ocean. So it's just a matter of time before there's way more jobs and careers that, like you said earlier, that kids don't even know about yet.

Speaker 1: 35:48

So we're excited to hear about it Definitely, and I can include a link in the show notes to the application for the blue economy incubator. Absolutely Are listening and interested. And I love also what you said, jason, about you don't have to have a professional background in this to get involved, because I feel that that holds a lot of people back from getting engaged. They feel that they need some sort of education or avenue, but you don't have to be a spectator, you can get involved. So with that, I want to say thank you to each of you so much for coming on the Ocean Optimism podcast. I truly appreciate your time and definitely I feel more optimistic about our future.

Speaker 2: 36:31

Thank you.

Speaker 3: 36:33

Thank you, Ellen.

Speaker 4: 36:35

Terrific.

Speaker 3: 36:35

Thanks so much.

Speaker 1: 36:39

That's a wrap for today's episode of the Ocean Optimism podcast. We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to our esteemed guests, chairman Castellanos, paula and Jason, for sharing how the Port of San Diego is a global leader in the blue economy space, supporting innovative companies with innovative solutions. Their dedication to finding solutions that are not only good for the ocean but also supporting the port is truly inspiring, and we're grateful for their efforts to continue to push the edge of how we can embody sustainability To our listeners. We hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as we did and that it left you feeling hopeful and motivated to play your part in preserving our ocean. Be sure to tune on your podcast notifications for next month's episode of Ocean Optimism. In the meantime, don't forget to subscribe, rate and review our podcast on your preferred platform and share it with your friends and family to spread the message of Ocean Optimism. You can also follow us on social media for updates at Ocean Optimism on Twitter, facebook and Instagram and at Ellen's Ocean Optimism on TikTok. We'd also like to express our immense gratitude to the many companies whose tools were indispensable in the production of our podcast, including podcastleai, artlistio, spotify, apple and Buzzsprouts. Your innovative technologies are integral to bringing our show to life. Once again, thank you for joining us today. We look forward to having you tune in to our next episode.

Speaker 1: 38:17

We'd like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, refix. Refix is an organic recovery drink made with 20% seawater, low in calories and contains no added sugar. This sustainable, healthy alternative to other recovery drinks is available on Amazon. The carefully crafted formula of Refix is packed with essential minerals like magnesium, potassium, calcium chloride and sodium that work together to restore and replenish your body at a cellular level. Refix is also committed to reducing plastic waste, which is why they use glass bottles for their packaging. This is not only their eco-friendly nature of the brand, but it also aligns with the mission of ocean conservation and sustainability. So next time you're in need of a recovery drink after a long workout, a day at the beach or even a surf session, give Refix a try. It's not only delicious and healthy, but it's also supporting ocean conservation and sustainability through its environmental work. Thanks again to Refix for sponsoring today's episode. Now let's dive back into the world of ocean optimism.