Ocean Pasture Restoration – the Trillion Dollar Climate Change Solution That Costs Mere Millions And Brings Back The Fish

Part Three of Three: Ocean Pastures, Clouds, and Climate

© By Russ George

We Already Did It. It Already Worked.

In the summer of 2012, a fishing village on the coast of Haida Gwaii—the remote archipelago off British Columbia that the Haida people have called home for over 14,000 years—did something that no government, no corporation, and no climate conference had managed to do.

They restored an ocean pasture.

Working with the Old Massett Village Council and under my direction, a small team of just 11 shipmates and I in this nature-based ecorestoration project dispersed approximately 100 tonnes of iron-rich mineral dust across 10,000 km² of the iron-depleted waters of the Northeast Pacific. The cost of the mineral dust and its application was modest—a few million dollars for the entire intensely scientific project supported by the National Science Council of Canada, Federal and Provincial governments, and our small native peoples village of 853 men, women, and children, pocket change by climate-intervention standards.

What happened next was not subtle. Within days, a massive phytoplankton bloom developed, eventually covering over 50,000 km²—an area larger than Switzerland. The bloom persisted for many months. It was visible from space on NASA’s and other nations’ scientific satellite imagery, a great green swath of restored life in waters that had been, for too long, a clear blue desert.

And then the results came in. One after another, each more striking than the last.

226 Million Fish

The predicted catch of Pink Salmon in the waters of neighboring Alaska in the late summer of 2013 was to be between 50-52 million fish. Might our Haida Salmon Restoration Company effort to bring back the fish be successful?

The actual 2013 catch?

226 million sockeye salmon.

That’s not a typo. Not 52 million. 226 million. The largest salmon catch in all of history. More than four times the forecast. The fisheries scientists were bewildered. They had no model that could account for it. But we weren’t bewildered at all, because we understood what had happened: we had restored the ocean pasture that feeds juvenile salmon during their most vulnerable first year at sea, and the fish responded exactly the way healthy ecosystems do—with explosive abundance.

Alongside the salmon, the restored pasture produced documented increases in zooplankton, seabirds, and marine mammals. The entire food web responded. Because that’s what happens when you restore the base of the food chain. Everything above it recovers. Right on schedule for 3 additional Pink Salmon 2015, 2017, and 2019 the largest catches of salmon ever.

More Than Fish: The Atmospheric Evidence

My Haida project wasn’t just a fish story. Atmospheric monitoring during and after the bloom detected increased aerosol optical depth over the bloom region—exactly what you’d expect from enhanced biogenic aerosol (DMS) production. Cloud pattern changes were observed. Over 100 million tonnes of CO₂ drawdown were estimated from the bloom’s carbon fixation alone, not counting the albedo benefits of enhanced cloud cover which very well might have exceeded the “blue carbon” climate mitigation benefit.

This wasn’t a computer simulation. This wasn’t a theoretical paper. This was a real-world, large-scale demonstration that ocean pasture restoration works—that it produces the biological, fisheries, atmospheric, and carbon benefits predicted by the underlying science.

It was proof of concept. And it cost less than what a mid-sized city spends on a small elementary school each year!

The Albedo Calculation: Why Each Pasture Is Worth a Gigatonne

In the previous articles, we documented the science showing that cloud loss is the primary driver of Earth’s albedo decline, and that the collapse of ocean pasture productivity is the missing mechanism behind that cloud loss. Now let’s quantify what restoration can deliver.

The calculation is straightforward and conservative:

A restored ocean pasture of 50,000 km² produces approximately 100,000 tonnes of biogenic aerosols over a typical six-month bloom cycle. These aerosols act as cloud condensation nuclei, seeding low marine cloud formation over an area roughly ten times larger—approximately 500,000 km².

A conservative albedo increase of 0.1 (10%) over that cloud-enhanced area, at average solar radiation of approximately 240 W/m² (accounting for clouds, latitude, and seasonal variation), produces 24 W/m² of additional reflected solar energy over 500,000 km².

Scaling to Earth’s total surface area of 510 million km²: (24 × 500,000) / 510,000,000 = 0.024 W/m² of global cooling forcing. Using the standard conversion of approximately 50 Gt CO₂e per W/m², that’s equivalent to removing more than 1.2 gigatonnes of CO₂e per pasture per year.

One pasture. One gigatonne. Per year. From a natural process that simultaneously restores fisheries, draws down atmospheric carbon through the biological pump, and buffers ocean acidification.

No other climate intervention on Earth delivers a gigatonne of benefit for millions of dollars of investment. Not one.

Multiple Climate Pathways Working Simultaneously

What makes ocean pasture restoration unique among climate interventions is that it doesn’t just operate through one mechanism. It works through at least four simultaneous climate pathways:

1. Enhanced Albedo Through Cloud Brightening

The primary mechanism we’ve detailed throughout this series. Plankton-produced biogenic aerosols seed low marine clouds that reflect sunlight. This is the single largest climate benefit per pasture, delivering the gigatonne-scale cooling described above.

2. Biological Carbon Pump Activation

Phytoplankton blooms fix atmospheric CO₂ through photosynthesis. A fraction of that fixed carbon sinks to the deep ocean as dead cells, fecal pellets, and marine snow—the “biological pump” that has regulated atmospheric CO₂ for billions of years. The Haida project alone sequestered an estimated 300,000+ tonnes of CO₂ through this mechanism. At scale, restored ocean pastures could draw down billions of tonnes annually.

3. Ocean Alkalinity and Acidification Buffering

Thriving plankton blooms reduce dissolved CO₂ concentrations in surface waters, directly mitigating ocean acidification. This protects coral reefs, shellfish, and the countless marine organisms that build calcium carbonate structures. It’s a co-benefit that no other carbon removal approach provides.

4. Regional Climate Regulation

Marine clouds produced by ocean pastures deliver rainfall to downwind land masses. The collapse of offshore plankton productivity correlates directly with declining precipitation and intensifying drought over adjacent continents—as we’ve seen devastatingly demonstrated in Iberia, California, and elsewhere. Restoring ocean pastures doesn’t just cool the planet globally; it can restore regional rainfall patterns.

The Cost-Benefit Numbers That Should End Every Argument

Let’s talk about what ocean pasture restoration costs versus what it delivers, because these numbers are the most compelling argument of all.

Investment per pasture: approximately $4–$6 million. This covers the mineral dust, maritime logistics, scientific measurement and monitoring equipment, and operational costs for treating a 50,000 km² ocean pasture. The mineral inputs are a mere hundred tonnes of natural iron-rich dust (aka dirt)—not millions of tonnes of engineered aerosols.

Climate benefit per pasture: more than 1 Gt CO₂e in cooling equivalent per year (primarily from albedo enhancement), plus millions of tonnes of direct CO₂ sequestration through the biological pump.

Trillions in Value at a Cost of Mere Millions

At current and projected carbon credit valuations of $120–$720 per tonne CO₂e, the climate value delivered by a single restored ocean pasture ranges from $120 billion to over $720 billion annually.

That’s a return on investment of 13,000× to 80,000×.

Read that again. An investment of a few million dollars generating hundreds of billions in climate value. There is no technology, no policy instrument, no financial mechanism anywhere in the climate portfolio that comes within several orders of magnitude of this ratio.

Fisheries co-benefit: up to 200 million additional fish per restored pasture per year, based on documented results from the 2012 Haida project. That’s food security, employment, and economic stimulus for coastal communities—delivered as a byproduct of climate restoration.

Global Scaling: The Numbers That Change Everything

Earth’s oceans contain vast expanses of iron-limited, high-nutrient waters where pasture restoration is applicable. Here’s what scaled deployment looks like:

North Pacific HNLC zone: approximately 15 million km². Capacity for 200–300 restored pastures. Potential climate benefit: 240–360 Gt CO₂e per year.

North Atlantic: approximately 5 million km². Capacity for 50–100 restored pastures. Potential: 60–120 Gt CO₂e per year.

Southern Ocean: approximately 20 million km². The largest HNLC region on Earth. Capacity for 300–400 pastures. Potential: 360–480 Gt CO₂e per year.

Upwelling regions and other applicable zones: approximately 3 million km². Capacity for 30–60 pastures. Potential: 36–72 Gt CO₂e per year.

Total global potential: 700–1,000 Gt CO₂e per year.

Current global greenhouse gas emissions are approximately 37 Gt CO₂ per year. Fully scaled ocean pasture restoration could deliver climate benefits twenty to thirty times larger than the entirety of human emissions. This isn’t a marginal offset. It’s a planetary-scale correction.

We don’t need to invent new technology. We need to restore old biology.

Addressing the Concerns Head-On

I’ve been making this case for decades, and I know the objections that come. Let me address them directly, because they deserve serious answers.

“Isn’t this geoengineering?”

No. Geoengineering means deliberately manipulating Earth systems using industrial technology—like spraying sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere or launching mirrors into orbit. Ocean pasture restoration is eco-restoration. It restores a natural process that has been disrupted by human activity. We’re not engineering a new climate intervention. We’re allowing the ocean’s own biology to resume the climate regulation it performed for billions of years before we broke it. Calling this geoengineering is like calling the replanting of a clearcut forest “geoengineering.” It’s restoration, plain and simple.

“What about harmful algal blooms?”

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) occur in warm, nutrient-polluted coastal waters—conditions completely different from the cold, iron-limited open ocean waters where pasture restoration is conducted. The phytoplankton communities that bloom in response to iron replenishment are dominated by diatoms—large, silica-shelled, ecologically beneficial species that form the foundation of productive marine food webs. No ocean iron fertilization experiment has ever produced a harmful algal bloom. The ecology simply doesn’t work that way in these waters.

“Won’t commercial interests exploit this?”

They should—in the best sense. Ocean pasture restoration produces fisheries benefits worth billions, carbon credits worth billions more, and regional climate stabilization that protects agriculture, infrastructure, and human life. Of course there should be commercial participation. The alternative—leaving restoration unfunded because we’re suspicious of anyone who might profit from saving the planet—is a luxury we can no longer afford.

“The science isn’t settled.”

The science of phytoplankton producing DMS is settled. The science of DMS forming cloud condensation nuclei is settled. The science of ocean productivity decline is settled. The science of cloud cover decline is now settled, thanks to Tselioudis, Goessling, and Hansen. What hasn’t been “settled” is the willingness of the climate establishment to connect these dots. The 2012 Haida project didn’t need settled science. It needed 100 tonnes of mineral dust and the courage to act. The results spoke for themselves.

The Implementation Pathway

Restoring the ocean’s cloud-making capacity isn’t a century-long project. It can begin immediately and scale rapidly. Here’s how.

Phase 1: Demonstration and Validation (Years 1–3)

Deploy several monitored ocean pasture restoration projects across the North Pacific and North Atlantic, building on my proven 2012 methodology and technology.  Comprehensive atmospheric, biological, and oceanographic monitoring to generate the peer-reviewed dataset that the scientific community requires. Total cost: approximately $50–$100 million—less than a single advanced fighter jet.

Phase 2: Operational Scaling (Years 3–7)

Scale to 50–100 active pastures across major HNLC ocean regions. Develop standardized protocols, monitoring systems, and governance frameworks. Integrate with carbon credit markets and fisheries management systems. Total cost: approximately $500 million to $1 billion. Expected return: tens of gigatonnes of CO₂e climate benefit annually plus massive fisheries catch, enough food to significantly help end world hunger!

Phase 3: Global Deployment (Years 7–15)

Full-scale deployment across all applicable ocean regions. 500–1,000 active pastures delivering hundreds of gigatonnes of annual climate benefit. Integrated international governance. Self-sustaining through fisheries revenue and carbon credits. The ocean’s natural climate regulation restored to pre-industrial capacity—or better.

Why Now

Every argument for delay has been demolished by the 2025 science.

We now know that cloud loss is heating the planet faster than greenhouse gas models predicted. We now know that 85% of the albedo decline comes from clouds. We now know that the additional absorbed energy from cloud loss rivals the accumulated forcing of a century of emissions. And we now know—from decades of ocean science and from the direct, real-world evidence of the 2012 Haida project—that ocean pasture restoration can reverse this decline by restoring the natural biological production of cloud-forming aerosols.

The technology is a boat and some mineral dust. The timeline is months, not decades. The cost is millions, not trillions. The co-benefits include restoring the world’s fisheries, feeding billions of people, revitalizing marine ecosystems, buffering ocean acidification, and delivering rainfall to drought-stricken continents.

Every year we delay, the ocean pastures degrade further, fewer clouds form, more heat is absorbed, and the feedback loop tightens. The window to act without catastrophic consequences is closing. It hasn’t closed yet. But it will.

A Call to Action

This isn’t an abstract policy proposal. It’s a concrete, actionable plan with proven technology and demonstrated results. Different stakeholders can act now:

To climate scientists: Integrate biological ocean-atmosphere feedbacks into your models. The DMS-cloud-albedo pathway is too important to remain unparameterized. The 2025 papers have quantified the cloud crisis; now help identify the biological mechanism driving it.

To policymakers: Fund Phase 1 demonstration projects immediately. The cost is trivial compared to any other climate program. Remove the regulatory barriers that treat ocean restoration as “geoengineering” rather than the ecological restoration it actually is.

To the climate investment community: The return on investment from ocean pasture restoration dwarfs every other climate intervention by orders of magnitude. The fisheries co-benefits alone justify the investment. The carbon and albedo benefits make it the most valuable climate asset class on the planet.

To coastal and Indigenous communities: The Haida people showed the way in 2012. Ocean pasture restoration delivers food security, economic opportunity, and cultural renewal alongside climate benefits. This is community-scale climate action with community-scale returns.

To everyone: Demand that ocean pasture restoration be included in the climate conversation. It has been ignored, marginalized, and mischaracterized for too long. The science is now overwhelming. The proof of concept exists. The need is urgent.

The Simple Truth

Our planet evolved a cooling system over billions of years. The ocean’s living systems—its vast plankton pastures—produce the cloud seeds that maintain Earth’s reflective shield. That shield has been collapsing as the pastures die, and the resulting heat gain now rivals everything we’ve done with fossil fuels.

But here’s the thing about living systems: they want to recover. Give an ocean pasture what it needs—a dusting of the iron-rich minerals that wind and rain once delivered naturally—and it blooms. When it blooms, it feeds fish, fixes carbon, produces cloud seeds, and cools the planet.

We’ve done it. It works. The fish came back. The clouds came back. The science is in.

The choice isn’t between suffering or salvation in 100 years. The choice is whether we restore the living systems of the planet now—and let them cool it for us.

Nature-based ocean restoration is not a sideshow. It’s the missing piece in the climate equation. Until we restore the life that once cooled our world, all other solutions are working uphill against a broken planetary thermostat.

The thermostat isn’t broken beyond repair. We just have to turn it back on and care for it!

References

Tselioudis, G., et al. (2025). “Contraction of the World’s Storm-Cloud Zones the Primary Contributor to the 21st Century Increase in the Earth’s Sunlight Absorption.” Geophysical Research Letters, 52, e2025GL114882.

Goessling, H. F., et al. (2024). “Recent global temperature surge intensified by record-low planetary albedo.” Science, 387(6729), 68–73.

Hansen, J., et al. (2025). “Large Cloud Feedback Confirms High Climate Sensitivity.”

Gao, C., Stocker, R., et al. (2020). “Single-cell bacterial transcription measurements reveal the importance of DMSP.” Nature Communications.

George, R. (2025). “Ocean Pasture Albedo Production: A Nature-Based Climate Solution Delivering Gigatonnes of CO₂e Mitigation Annually.” russgeorge.net.

George, R. (2025). “Climate Science Has Ignored The Ocean Cooling Crisis.” russgeorge.net.

George, R. (2020). “More Confirmation That Ocean Plankton Make Our Planet’s Clouds.” russgeorge.net.

Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Fraser River Sockeye Salmon Returns, 2013 data.