From Sustainability to Self: How the Ocean Taught Me That Food Is Medicine

For years, I called myself a sustainable seafood advocate. I lived aboard a sailboat and traveled thousands of miles across the Pacific, visiting remote aquaculture farms, diving into kelp forests, and meeting with fishermen and marine biologists. I believed that protecting the ocean meant advocating for better seafood practices—less overfishing, more transparency, smaller-scale operations, and restoration of marine ecosystems.

But something changed when I became a father.

Suddenly, the conversation around seafood wasn’t just about ethics or ecosystems. It was about my daughter's future. It was about what I was feeding my wife while she was pregnant, what nutrients were supporting our baby's brain development, and whether the sushi I once thought of as a symbol of purity might actually carry hidden risks: mercury, microplastics, parasites.

This was the moment I stopped seeing food as just environmental policy and began to see it as medicine—or poison. I began asking different questions: not only where did this fish come from, but what does it contain? Is it safe? Is it truly nourishing? Who verified that claim?

That shift—deeply personal and unavoidably urgent—transformed my mission. I came to understand that our health is intimately connected to the health of the ocean, and that food is the bridge. And in that realization, I saw that the most powerful, accessible tool we have to heal both our bodies and the planet is what we choose to put on our plates.

Most People Think Seafood Is Healthy. It Should Be.

Seafood has long been hailed as a cornerstone of a healthy diet. Rich in omega-3s, lean protein, trace minerals like iodine and selenium, and brain-boosting fats like DHA, it's a staple in the Mediterranean and Japanese diets—two of the most longevity-promoting cuisines in the world.

But here’s the paradox: the same oceans that nourish life have also become polluted dumping grounds. Today, much of the seafood in grocery stores comes with invisible baggage: methylmercury, microplastics, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), dioxins, and residues from antibiotics or chemical treatments. These toxins bioaccumulate over time in species at the top of the food chain—like tuna, swordfish, or salmon—and they accumulate in us.

Our generation inherited an ocean in crisis. Industrial fishing and unchecked pollution have created a feedback loop where seafood—once the cleanest protein on Earth—is now something many pregnant women are warned to avoid. How did we get here?

And more importantly: what can we do about it?

The Problem Isn’t Seafood. It’s the System.

The industrial seafood system is broken.

We’ve commodified marine life into units of profit. Wild fisheries are collapsing from overextraction. Factory fish farms, especially those reliant on GMO corn, soy-based feeds, and synthetic additives, produce fish that are biologically and nutritionally a far cry from the nutrient profiles our ancestors evolved to thrive on. These nutritionally imbalanced factory farms, in turn, often rely on antibiotics or even vaccines to prevent disease in overcrowded pens.

Meanwhile, the seafood labels that flood the market—"sustainable," "pure," "wild," "natural"—often mask the deeper issue: a lack of transparency and accountability. Nearly every seafood brand claims sustainability—but few back it up with data, verification, or meaningful third-party audits. Consumers are left to guess, relying on certifications that don’t always mean what we think they do.

Even wild-caught fish are no longer a clean fallback. Species like swordfish and king mackerel can contain mercury levels 10 to 20 times higher than the EPA limit for children and pregnant women. A recent study published in Nature showed detectable microplastic particles in nearly every wild-caught fish sampled.

So what do we do when the very food we evolved to thrive on becomes suspect?

We change the system. But we do it through something deeper than sustainability.

We do it through regeneration.

Regenerative Aquaculture: Healing the Sea, Nourishing the Body

Just as regenerative agriculture heals the land, regenerative aquaculture has the power to heal the ocean.

This approach goes beyond reducing harm. It seeks to create abundance. It starts with mimicking nature: seaweed and shellfish farms that clean the water, sequester carbon, and create habitats. Then, layered nearby, low-density finfish farms raise species on clean, fish-free diets—rich in microalgae and insect protein, rather than corn and soy or fishmeal.

These systems are known as Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) or polyculture farming. When designed well, they:

• Reforest kelp beds

• Rebuild marine biodiversity

• Reduce nutrient pollution

• Absorb carbon dioxide

• Eliminate the need for antibiotics or GMO feed

And most importantly for the individual? They produce some of the cleanest, most nutrient-dense seafood on Earth.

Seatopia exists to foster farms like these around the world—in the U.S., Spain, Chile, Peru, Indonesia, The Netherlands, and beyond. These are small-scale, transparent operations that prioritize ecosystem health and human nourishment in equal measure.

They don’t just raise seafood. They cultivate healing.

The Nutritional Goldmine of Clean Seafood

When seafood is raised right, it becomes a form of medicine:

• DHA & EPA: Crucial for brain health, mood stability, cardiovascular function, and reducing inflammation. Lab-tested regenerative seafood often has higher levels of DHA than wild fish.

• Iodine & Selenium: Essential for thyroid function and detox pathways, especially important in pregnancy and hormonal balance.

• Bioavailable Protein: Complete amino acid profiles to support recovery, growth, and energy.

• Pro-resolving Mediators (PRMs): Specialized lipid compounds that actively resolve inflammation—your body can only make these from marine-sourced omega-3s, and they play a vital role in immune regulation and healing.

These nutrients aren’t just nice to have. They’re essential to human evolution. According to the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis, our ancestors thrived near coastal environments precisely because seafood offered the rare nutrients that fueled the rapid growth of our brains.

Is it any wonder that the modern epidemic of chronic disease has grown in parallel with our disconnection from food and the ocean?

From Personal Health to Planetary Change

My family now eats seafood at least 3–5 times a week. Not just because it tastes good, but because it keeps our omega-3 levels high, our inflammation low, and our connection to the ocean alive.

But more than that, I now see every meal as a vote. A vote for a food system that honors the interconnectedness of life.

When we choose clean, traceable, regenerative seafood, we vote for:

• A healthier body

• A clearer mind

• A thriving marine ecosystem

• A food system based on reciprocity, not extraction

And that’s the revelation: Food isn’t just medicine. It’s leverage.

We don’t need to wait for policy to change. We can change the system every time we eat. We can fund regenerative farms with our forks. We can support the reforestation of the ocean with our appetites.

So I ask you:

• What if food could heal more than just our bodies?

• What if every dinner was an act of ecological restoration?

• What kind of food system do you want your children to inherit?

Join the Blue Food Revolution

Right now, less than 1% of global aquaculture would qualify as truly regenerative.

And yet, demand for clean, nutrient-dense seafood is rising. Health-conscious parents, longevity-focused biohackers, functional medicine practitioners—they’re all waking up to the need for food that supports both planetary and personal health.

But for this revolution to take hold, we need more than awareness. We need investment. Education. Community. And we need to start telling a new story:

One where seafood isn’t a problem to solve, but a solution to activate.

That’s why we created Seatopia. To make this vision accessible. To empower people to choose better. To raise the standard of seafood everywhere—starting with what shows up at your doorstep.

So when you open a Seatopia box, know this: You’re not just getting sushi-grade fish. You’re getting a vision. A standard. A seed for the future. Share the story. Share the solution. And let’s restore the ocean’s ability to nourish life—ours and its own.

Together, we can turn the tide.