OCA Blue Impact Center – Long Island Bahamas

OCEAN CREST ALLIANCE

BLUE IMPACT CENTER

Partnership of Ocean Crest Alliance and PanaSea

  • The OCA Blue Impact Center (OCABIC) will be the first in a series of “blue economy properties” uniquely themed by the mission and/or sponsor. In this case, tying in the network of Ocean Crest Alliance, PanaSea, and related company clients, associates with the vast network of clients, associates and assets will set the stage for what is to come.
  • The OCABIC provides rental accommodations for 14 guest that are experts or in training in marine based activities
  • The OCABIC operates place-based, sustainable solutions ranging from food security and renewable energy to ecosystem restoration and sustainable tourism.
  • The OCABIC Property will serve as a conservation, research, education scientific, technology (CREST) and high adventure activity booking center, exposing visitors to hands-on research, thus creating a sustainable business model for funding continued CREST activities.
  • Placement at the ocean side on the South West Coast of Long Island at “Cabbage Point” will serve dual purpose of command and control of offshore ops, and to the Southern Bahamas and offer a thematic “welcome” to new guests arriving from the airport or onboard their vessels.
  • OCA has the shell package in near ready status at an extraordinary price; and wish to be part of the larger Bahamas conservation plans. Following OCA, with a series of activity themed blue economy properties will complement the momentum of this initial property – a Network of Financially Sustainable Blue Impact Centers
  • The client base that will book these unique properties will range from highly disciplined researchers to corporate retreats to families and adventure seekers stomping through their bucket list

Creating a Sustainable Village

 Each of the following disciplines will create content, traffic, and revenues on a path to reaching a sustainable “village.” The property will follow the renderings of the OCA Adventure Center featuring

  • Category- 5 hurricane resistant, concrete based buildings
  • 2 x 1400 sqft. 2bdr – Villas
  • 3 – 900 sq ft 1bdr – Cottages
  • 1 – 2000 sq ft Workshop / Lab Space featuring

○ Indoor and outdoor seawater systems, environmental control rooms, raceways and experimental tanks for mesocosm-level studies, including coral restoration research, aquaculture programs, ocean acidification and climate change impacts to tropical reef organisms.

○ Molecular equipment to process and prepare samples for generation sequencing, genomics, metagenomics and transcriptomics in relation to Aquaculture programs

○ Microbial supplies for molecular and cultural applications within the marine environment.

○ Carbon chemistry laboratory for ocean acidification studies

  • Eco Friendly advanced technology design includes solar panels feeding Tesla® Powerpac; rainwater capture, and high-efficiency cooling systems.
  • 2 – Docking Stations® for Mobile Container Lab

Conservationist, Researchers, Educators, Scientists, Technology enthusiasts and the Adventurer / Explorer in all of us will book rooms at the OCABIC; inclusive of farm fresh meals and complete access to the property infrastructure.

  • Land and Sea Activities
  • Dayboat Operators CDC (Career Development Center)
  • Health and Wellness
  • Food Security (Aquaponics)
  • Dive Sports CDC (Career Development Center)
  • Media
  • Exploration
  • Air Drone and Underwater Glider CDC (Career Development Center)
  • Special Events/Guest Speakers (ie: Free Diving, Food Security, Aquaponics, Wellness and more)

 

Our mission contributes to United Nations SDGs nº14 (‘life below water’), nº2 (‘achieve food security), nº7 (‘sustainable energy’), nº8 (‘decent work’), nº5 (‘gender equality’), nº12 (‘sustainable consumption and production’), and nº13 (‘climate action’) as a priority

BLUE IMPACT

PanaSea Hatchery & Farm  

Sea cucumbers have been a dietary delicacy and medicinal cure for East Asians for over 500 years. A natural superfood consumed in multiple forms. By 2024, sea cucumber demand will exceed supply by 1.7x, a 340-million-kilogram shortage. Increasing global demand and diminishing wild stock from overfishing are contributing to the shortage. PanaSea is the first commercial hatchery in the Americas to successfully produce sustainable Caribbean Sea cucumbers. This 10-year effort required $10M in investment, a consortium of expertise and ultimately creating a new industry using good old fashioned science. Working with Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, PanaSea has been able to demonstrate that the very act of repopulating sea cucumbers is the key to preventing coral bleaching and allowing sea grasses to thrive instead of recede. The implications for blue carbon and biodiversity credits are astounding.

Blue Carbon Securities are a new asset class that can be traded in The Bahamas. The country’s blue carbon credits are potentially worth over $50 billion and could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue.

Here are some details about blue carbon securities in The Bahamas:

  • Regulatory framework

The Climate Change and Carbon Initiatives Act, 2022 (CCCIA) established a regulatory framework for blue carbon credits. The Carbon Credit Trading Act, 2022 gives the Securities Commission of The Bahamas the power to regulate the trading of carbon credit securities.

  • Ownership

The government retains ownership of the country’s seagrasses, salt marshes, and mangroves. The government receives 92.5% of the proceeds from blue carbon sales or trading, after operational costs.

  • Capital market transactions

Blue carbon assets can be used to restructure, refinance, or redeem Bahamian sovereign debt. This debt was incurred due to climate change and its adverse impacts, such as sea-level rise, flooding, hurricanes, and wind damage.

Blue carbon refers to coastal ecosystems that store carbon at higher rates than forests per unit area. These ecosystems can help:

  • Stabilize loose soils and solidify coastlines
  • Support fisheries by providing spawning grounds for commercial fish species
  • Filter pollutants and contaminants from coastal waters
  • Protect coastal development and communities against storms, floods, and erosion

Until the Bahamas created Blue carbon securities tradable asset class, the blue carbon and biodiversity credit market has virtually zero supply. The reason for lack of supply is that essentially no one was interested to finance the front end auditing required to assess the baseline value of large marine areas, pay for the validation and final minting of the credits.  An unexpected ancillary benefit of PanaSea that sets us apart we realized our sea ranching activities actually does this specific job because we have to conduct censuses of the areas before we restock them. More importantly, our partnership with Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute is bearing incredible fruit. The publishable studies of the past 18 months undoubtedly show that returning sea cucumbers to sea grass meadows makes them (almost immediately) 5-8X healthier. Blue carbon credits currently range from $15 to $35 per metric ton, with projections raising to $70/ton as demand and verifiable quality increases. By returning millions of sea cucumbers to the ocean, Panama, Nicaragua and The Bahamas can become the leading catalyzing forces to unlock the struggling blue carbon credit market and produce a high return on investment. To be clear, we don’t want to start a blue carbon credit issuance or trading company, however this is yet another revenue stream unlocked whereby multi laterals, governments and foundations can pay us simply for putting sea cucumbers into the ocean with no additional work needed.

Additionally, PanaSea’s sister company “Immortal Oceans” is a fast emerging marine biotech company commercializing novel marine compounds from these ancient echinoderms. Instead of having to rely on selling a pure commodity to China, Immortal Oceans is the anchor revenue generating client, with the secondary focus on monetizing the repopulation of sea cucumbers as a nature based solution. PanaSea- working with OCA make this dream a reality by providing a platform that is at scale to the immense problems we face due to climate change. As a testament to the remarkable work we are doing, we have been featured in the premier international publication “The World of Sea Cucumbers”. You can read our chapters on page 681 here  You can also see our clearly delineated Impact Overview, which is our detailed social and environmental impact description. This has only gotten stronger with our validation through InterAmerican Development Bank and Smithsonian work. Also please check out what’s happening at PanaSea– and what the hell is a sea cucumber… 🙂

 

PHASE 1 HATCHERY FACILITY

 

 

PHASE 2 HATCHERY FACILITY

      

PanaSea: A Triple Bottom Line Aquaculture Program

 People – cash crop for communities

  • Cash crop for coastal communities
  • Generating sustainable employment
  • Prioritize opportunities for women

Planet – restore depleted fisheries

  • Reduce ocean acidification by increasing water pH
  • Prevent algal blooms which damage marine ecosystems
  • Promote healthy coral reefs by releasing essential nutrients

Profit – highest ROI in aquaculture

  • Sea cucumbers have the highest ROI of any aquaculture operation
  • Oversized returns due to unbridled demand and lack of competition
  • Sole concession in Panama & first mover advantage in Indonesia

 Our operational capacity is $37 million revenue

5.4 million sea-cumbers harvested annually

2025                 2026                 2027                 2028                 2029

Revenue              –                   $1.2m               $5.9m               $25m                $37m

Units In

Production       0.5m                 1.9m                 8.4m                 10m                  11m

Units

Harvested            –                    0.2m                 0.9m                 3.7m                 5.4m

 

Key Points

 Sea Cucumbers: A delicacy & medical cure-all for over 500 years

Market Size: $16B market growing to $20B

Supply Shortage: Growing demand and a diminishing natural supply from overfishing.

Great business economics: Our tropical species costs approx. $50/kg to produce and currently sells for $150 wholesale

 

Bahamas Hub & Spoke Model

Licensable IP/AquaTech: We now have incessant demand from all of our Caribbean neighbors with whom we are able to either: a) license our AquaTech IP (like we are currently doing throughout the Caribbean) or b) sell juveniles to nearby countries while still maintaining full control over our production and IP. Owning the hatchery IP is everything and the hardest part of the entire process. We are the only company in the Americas with this capability at the moment and virtually everyone would rather license/ franchise our technology or simply buy our juveniles because the failure rate is high. Also, we literally have the best of the best scientists working with us under strict non competes and NDAs so there is very little risk of someone actually competing with us. The Bahamas, is going to become our MAIN hub, whereas Panama will transition to a full public/private partnership with Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The innovative R&D and new technologies developed with STRI will be deployed and commercialized in our Bahamas hub. We are doing the same in Nicaragua, where our smaller hatchery will also be able to provide juveniles to Honduras and Costa Rica. However, in Nicaragua we own the business with our local partners as we have simply reactivated our original operation there again.

 

    Land and Sea Activities 

  • OCABIC offers SUP, Kite Surfing, Sea Bob and Foil Board experiences around Long Island were experienced and amateur outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy stimulating outings while honing on their skills.
  • Kayak and Yoga aficionados will find solace and never before experiences at Cabbage Point as well. These cross-over experiences are emerging activities that complement our core adrenaline theme and provide “balance” in the marketing arena to encourage the whole family to schedule a week.
  • Branding Sponsors: Flite, LIVE Watersports, North Action Sports
  • Kite Surf tournaments and workshops
  • Free Diving clinics with 17x World Champion and OCA Advisory Board Member William Trubridge. William resides on Long Island and host the World’s Premier Free Dive tournament “Vertical Blue” at Deans Blue Hole on Long Island – the second deepest Blue Hole in The World
  • Sailing instruction by local sailors – the best in the Bahamas!

       

 

   Day Boat Operators  

  • The recent emergence of mega Center Console vessels is creating a great opportunity for a destination resort with an industrial storage and maintenance complex capability.
  • Day boaters that own a $1m+ masterpiece can find accommodations and make sense of a Villa at OCABIC and will likely engage in the range of new activities.
  • They will be hooked when they know the worst part of the trip is a once a year ordeal crossing the gulfstream then island hoping south; and they realize they can leave their significant investment in the hands of trained staff in a purpose built facilities; then fly home in the comfort of private air service.
  • Integrating a CDC program specific to standardizing the maintenance, storage, and operations of these vessels will create Bahamian jobs, and is key to acquiring the clients trust in leaving their latest prize possession on Long Island.
  • Providing housing and meeting space for the clients’ delivery or operational crew is an added value. The owners of these vessels are the most likely candidates for purchasing an annual membership to OCA Eshare® Program; a concept worth considering.
  • Marketing these capabilities will encourage the sales and marketing staff of the boat builders/dealers to broadcast OCAAC as a go to application of their pending purchase. The cool factor of “fly-in” boating and adventure will flow well. Adding a small fleet of highly capable yet practical rental boats with access to professional operators is a likely complement as well.
  • Branding Sponsor: HammerYachts, Hanson, IMAR

    

 

Health and Wellness

  • The goal of the property is not only to accommodate a wider range of client dietary and fitness minimum requirements, but offering this as a “retreat” focal point. Within each family, business unit, group of friends lies a growing population of plant-based nutrition, yoga and general health conscious individuals.
  • This is an opportunity to highlight the OCABIC garden, solar farm, waste treatment plant and define an overarching theme of sustainability at every level.
  • Engaging the vegan enthusiasts with a juice bar, and yoga training before the afternoon activity session is sure to provide the perfect retreat for many big spending family units.
  • The property gardens provide a place to connect with something larger than oneself. A haven for the adventurer, for the wanderer. The endlessly passionate and curious. Arrive with an open heart and leave changed forever. This is a destination with meaning.
  • Massage / spa offered to guest in room or out in Nature.
  • Branding Sponsor: Eden Farms

 

    Media

 

  • Filmmakers and broadcast TV entities will enjoy the cost-effective benefits of “fly-in” productions. The added cost and scheduling difficulties of ship-based media productions for exploration projects often limits the end product.
  • Reducing the ship transit cost by combining the science, exploration, and adventure into a fully capable “set” will gain the attention of Hollywood and abroad.
  • When not occupied by professional filmmakers, this facility will be used by local apprentices to create a constant flow of media from ongoing adventure activities, research and extreme exploration in the Long Island / Conception / Rum Cay and Southern Bahamas area. The apprentices will assist the professionals as another value-added service to reduce their travel footprint.
  • Branding Sponsors:
    • Discovery Channel, Sharkweek, Sky News, AP Newswire, Cineflix Media, Figment Design

    

Exploration

  • Researchers seek out remote field stations. Long Island combined with drop cameras, ocean data acquisition stations and the modern OCA lab facility with an emphasis on teaching Bahamians and visitors will produce the workforce to fuel the transition of the Bahamas and abroad.
  • Branding Sponsors:
    • PanaSea, Immortal Oceans, Mote Marine Laboratories, Guy Harvey will be the first theme sponsors providing significant network recruiting capabilities.
    • The “build-it and they will come” concept applies here.
    • Each of these related entities has the ability to recruit, organize, and manage a healthy roster of notable guest that want access to an asset rich facility.

    

 

Science, Exploration, Adventure:

A New Audience

  • Researchers from around the globe need efficient access to the deep oceans and the shallow ocean ecosystems. Our location, facility offer an unprecedented scale of observation and data collection.
  • Pairing researchers with broadcast media entities expands the audience impacted by the emerging knowledge acquired from these habitats
  • These same media efforts will expose Long Islands unique geological and environmental factors that make it such an incredible marine environment.
  • Explaining the anomaly of how “The Banks” and “Blue Holes” were formed will help highlight the magnitude of how truly exotic it is.

   

Science, Exploration, Adventure:

A New Experience

  • Sponsor – Guest – Content Developers from around the globe will seek out a week or more around Long Island to participate in the shore based access to diverse ecosystem with the key equipment assets. While all forms of watersports, will be the key focal point initially, the equipment and technology at the facility will fill in the gaps of understanding the interaction of the community of ecosystems throughout the water column.
  • Researchers, equipment and cameras with story-tellers venturing into the ocean ecosystem will characterize Long Island as a holy-grail of ocean related adventure; shallow to very deep, to our amazing Blue Holes.
  • High-end vacationers naturally consider the Bahamas for white sand and blue water experiences.

Establishing Long Island as a premier destination with extreme exploration and impact experiences with a purpose is a plan that will create its own momentum.

 

 (Career Development Center)

  • Creating a drone and glider training program is now becoming an obvious enterprise opportunity. Both require significant team experience to master.
  • Accumulating adequate stick time from a ship-based facility is very expensive. Quick access to deep ocean drops and protected areas all within a short boat ride away, is yet another benefit of Long Island.
  • Students in the CDC will book rooms, meals, etc., and act as support personal during their apprenticeship periods (2-8 weeks).
  • In addition to the traditional crew training opportunity, financially capable individuals want to learn to operate drones and gliders before making a purchasing decision.

Acquisition Goals: Instruments

Flying Fish Technologies (FFT) to assist us with a program that can adequately demonstrate that rewilding Bahamian sea grass & monetizing its natural capital is a true and immediate reality. OCA will deploy instruments, such as the FFT glider. FFT has developed the Vertogo3 underwater glider, a device that performs visual-based quantitative benthic ecological surveys as a rate equivalent to approximately 1,000 scientific divers. The device collects near-seabed data, and its associated Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) systems analyze data and produce a variety of reports. All data are archived as representative of baseline conditions, providing a resource for future re-analysis a new issue or research questions arise.

  • AN OPPORTUNITY: The Government of the Bahamas wishes to capitalize on its seagrass assets. Total ecosystem services are valued at $156 billion/ yr; carbon storage at $54 billion/ year.
  • A PROBLEM: nobody has yet demonstrated:

1) Measure it- high precision at scale is required to support certification and management. Specifically, to work              with existing methodologies to measure and monetize natural capital.

2)  Make it- Produce more sea grass – it’s a diminishing resource at 3-5% a year.

   

Liquid Robotics Instrument: To assist with the monitoring of our ocean and Illegal Unreported Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities – a UN Sustainable Development Goal #14, OCA will deploy drones, such as the Liquid Robotics Wave Glider technology. The drone comes in two parts – the Wave Glider sits on the surface of the sea, while the Wave Engine can go deep underwater – and it sends information wirelessly via satellite back to the cloud in real time.

    

Aeromapper Talon Instrument: To assist with the monitoring of our programs, our ocean and Illegal Unreported Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities – a UN Sustainable Development Goal #14, OCA will deploy drones, such as the Aeromapper Talon flight technology. The Aeromapper Talon is a fixed wing commercial mapping small drone. This sUAS turnkey system is ideal for scouting, monitoring, mapping and surveying thanks to its swappable payloads such as centimeter accurate dual frequency PPK system, thermal, high resolution RGB cameras (24 or 42 Mp), or multispectral sensors. Its 2hr of endurance and high wind resistance allows operations in broad areas thanks to its parachute system and simplicity of hand launches.

   

 

Long Island, International Airport

Design Completed

Survey of Land Completed

Tenders Being Accepted

 

Long Island: The Perfect Location

Long Island — The proposed 257,000 acre Long Island Marine Management Area (LIMMA) contains a rich biodiversity of habitat, ranging from mangroves and sea grasses, blue holes to coral reefs and deep water sites; habitat that is critical to the life cycle of the biodiversity of the Long Island fisheries and associated bird and marine species.

CHARACTERIZING LONG ISLAND AS A MISSION SPECIFIC DESTINATION FOR THE WORLD’S MOST ADVENTUROUS TRAVELERS, RESEARCHERS AND EXPLORERS WILL MAXIMIZE THE POTENTIAL OF THE NATURAL ASSETS AND DEVELOPED INFRASTRUCTURE.

“The Long Island Hope Spot offers real hope for enhanced marine conservation in the Bahamas. Protecting the area would not only benefit wildlife in the sea, but also secure a vibrant part of Bahamian national heritage for the future. Now, as never before, we have the chance to get it right.” – Dr. Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue Founder

 

BLUE IMPACT

Related Partners Explanation

  • PanaSea is a triple bottom line commercial sea cucumber aquaculture company on the Caribbean coast of Panama;
    • To meet the global demand for sea cucumbers created by depletion due to overfishing
    • To regenerate local populations of sea cucumbers with all their myriad environmental benefits
    • To provide economic opportunities in impoverished Caribbean regions
  • PanaSea triple-bottom-line operation is focused on environmental and societal impacts as much as economic in the Caribbean.
    • Ocean acidification, overfishing and coral reef decline are threatening marine ecosystems which represents  80% of planets biodiversity: Seacucumbers Critical to healthy marine ecosystems reduce ocean acidification, reduce the buildup of organic matter preventing harmful algal blooms, and the promote healthy coral reefs by releasing essential nutrients.
  • Ocean CREST Group is the for-profit division of Ocean Crest Alliance, with the core business of partnering and developing Blue Economy solutions through innovative science, technologies, engineering, procurement, construction and management of sustainable development programs. Ocean CREST Group has developed a portfolio that spans the Globe. We chose to work where we have the most impact. Ocean CREST Group; is working to increase investment in ocean health, mitigate climate change, while building coastal resilience through:
    • Blue Conservation
    • Blue Research
    • Blue Education
    • Blue Science
    • Blue Technology
    • Blue MPAS
    • Blue Economy
      • Blue Energy
      • Blue Aquaculture
      • Blue Carbon

 

Collaboration Structure Overview

  • Combining mutual assets, talents and far reaching networks has the potential to shape the OCA Blue Impact Center as a destination that dreams are made of
  • On a very personal note, I am motivated to create a lasting legacy for exploration and economy as part of the OCA team much in the same way that Dr. Eugenie Clark and Dr. Sylvia Earle created Mote Marine Laboratory. Mote Marine, Woods Hole, Scripps Institute, etc., inspired so many of today’s leading explorers, scientists; Creating a modern, yet nimble and independently owned version of Mote Marine with a resort flair with several proven revenue streams is a great recipe for success! This event will be a significant milestone in all of our lives; for me the hallmark of over four decades of working and playing on our Oceans.
  • Combing the various private entities into our OCA facility will facilitate the bridge to connect certain new investments in the OCA Blue Impact Center concept. I have preliminary approval from our BOD to proceed. Utilization of blended finance impact investment funding will allow other interested parties a means to achieve equity as they invest their assets and time. Creating a win-win scenario in which all parties can collaborate and be rewarded in the outcome.

 

Organizational Chart

Captain Joseph Ierna Jr

  • Ocean Crest Alliance Co-Founder President
  • Blue Energy Bahamas CEO
  • Ocean Crest Group President
  • OCAAC Property Owner Developer Operator

Nicola Ierna

  • Ocean Crest Alliance Co-Founder CFO
  • Ocean Crest Group Director
  • OCAAC Property Owner Developer Operator

Dr. Kim Ierna

  • Ocean Crest Alliance BOD
  • Ocean Crest Group
  • OCAAC Property Owner

Bruno Edward

  • Ocean Crest Alliance Advisor
  • Ocean Crest Group
  • Status Capital

David Grossman

  • PanaSea CEO
  • Maderas Collective
  • Owner Immortal Oceans

Jon Beer

  • PanaSea COO
  • Mederas Collective

Dr. Francisco Solis

  • PanaSea CSO
  • Immortal Oceans CSO
  • Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Christian Knowles

  • Bahamas Moorings CEO
  • Blue Energy Bahamas COO
  • Ocean Crest Group

Philip Kemp

  • Bahamas Moorings CFO
  • Blue Energy Bahamas CFO
  • Ocean Crest Group

Max Strang

  • Owner STRANG Design
  • Design Advisor

Marc Lopata

  • Renewable Energy Advisor Solar Island Energy

For greater details about the OCA Adventure Center tax deductible E-Share Program and how you and your family may become involved in this significant conservation program please contact:

Captain Joseph Ierna Jr:

jijr-oca@oceancrestalliance.org