All Seaweed Farms in the Philippines are welcome!

Membership is Free Forever.  We just need to start with your email address.  No Cost.  No Risk.  No Obligation.

In time, we anticipate partnering with most, if not all, the Seaweed Farms in the country.  (The world needs you!).

Everyone can join.  As a member, you'll receive information and advice on how to improve your farm operations.  You can also connect with other members to share ideas and best practices.

Throughout each season, we will be selecting members to receive support from First Gigaton to start growing their Seaweed-CDR crops.

First Gigaton will select our first partners based on:

1.  Closeness of your seaweed farm to sea depths greater than 1000 meters so we can keep the cost of transport to a minimum.

2.  The level of your experience.  (At first, we need to learn from the best!)

Please join the Collective now, no matter how you feel about the above criteria.  We want to get to know you and appreciate everyone's initiative.  We also need to expand quickly, so now is the time to secure your spot.

We support all seaweed for capturing carbon.  Different species ~ and even the same species in different locations and year to year ~ will have different crop yields for carbon. 

Therefore, each crop will need to be sampled and analyzed at harvest to determine the carbon yield for that particular crop.

As we learn more from our partner farms about which seaweed types capture the most carbon, we may ask partners to switch to that type for their CDR Crops.

Let's get started!

1.  Join the Collective.  To start, fill out the quick form on the site.

2.  Basic Information.  During our initial correspondence, we will ask for the following information:

• The location of your seaweed farm.
• The type(s) of seaweed you grow.
• The growing season (planting months, harvesting months, how many crops per calendar year).
• The size of your current sea farm by crop type in hectares.
• The maximum number of hectares available to you for new CDR crops.

3.  Your First CDR Crop.  We will also need to know:

• The plot size (in hectares) you plan for your first carbon crop (one-half hectare minimum). 
• The number of (wet) kilograms you expect to be produced by your carbon plot (e.g. kilograms per hectare per growing season).
• The start-up costs of establishing your first carbon crop farm plot.  E.g., costs of stakes, rope lines, floats, fencing, seedline, and labour.

4.  Partner Contract.  When you are selected as a Partner, Seacat will enter a Partner Contract with you.  You will receive the start-up costs for your CDR Plot.  As well, you will receive a monthly payment throughout the year.  Upon each harvest, you may also receive a bonus based on the amount of seaweed you grow. 

5.  Wait List.  Even if you are not selected as a Partner at the time, you remain a member of the Seacat Collective.  As a member, you can still connect and share information with other members.  Most importantly, you will remain in line to be among the next group of Partners.  Seacat is adding Partners as quickly as possible.  Your time will come.  The world needs you!

The Seacat Protocol are the conditions that must be met for a Partner's crop to be accredited as a "Seacat CDR Crop" and for Seacat to issue associated "Carbon Credits."  The basic Protocol is:

1. The Partner Farm must use the Seacat CDR Crop for carbon capture only.  No part of the crop can be diverted or used for other purposes.  Seacat pays farmers to establish separate farm plots dedicated solely to carbon capture to meet this condition.

2. Upon harvest, Seacat arranges for a 1kg sample to be taken from each crop to be analyzed for carbon content by a recognized laboratory.

3. Upon harvest, the crop must be accurately weighed, recorded, and bundled into jute sacks for transport. 

4. Seacat collects the CDR crop offshore to the farm and transports the crop to a location designated by the Philippine Coast Guard where sea depths exceed 1000 meters.  There, Seacat deposits the harvest on the ocean floor for permanent sequestration. 

5. Farmers record all carbon associated with the carbon crop, from seeding to sequestration.  For example, the Farmer must record all fuel consumption (type and volume, e.g. diesel in litres) for planting, tending, harvesting, and transporting the carbon crop.  The purpose is to get a more accurate measure of the net amount of carbon captured by the crop.

6. Seacat calculates total net captured by the crop: [(wet weight in kg) x (carbon content per kg ~ as per lab analysis) - (Co2e of fuel inputs)].

7.  Three certificates are issued: (1) a CDR Purchase Certificate to the "Buyer" assigning the carbon from one or more CDR Crops; (2) a Farm CDR Certificate to the Partner recording the amount of carbon captured by the Partner's CDR Crop for that season; and (3) a CDR Retirement Certificate to the Buyer confirming the carbon in the CDR Purchase Certificate has been captured and permanently sequestered. 

8.  An independent third party verifies all measurements, calculations, and the location of sequestration using the appropriate means.

First Gigaton's CDR Credit Buyers demand accurate carbon removal that is rapid (six to eight weeks ~ not years), precisely measured, verified, and permanent.  

The Seacat Protocol meets or exceeds all five criteria for the highest quality carbon credit and secures global demand for your Seaweed-CDR crops.  

1. Additional: The Carbon removed by the CDR Project would not have been removed without the Project.

Seacat pays member farms to add separate farm plots dedicated only to growing carbon crops.  One hundred percent of the carbon captured by the Seacat carbon crop is sequestered.  The creation of the carbon crops and their sequestration would not occur without purchases of Seacat CDR Credits through First Gigaton. 

2. Verifiable: Monitored, reported, and verified by a credible third party.

The Protocol employs recognized third parties to verify all critical points of the CDR process and will adhere to any additional protocol requirements of the third parties. 

3. Durable: Seacat's CDR carbon is sequestered for at least 1000 years.

The accepted standard for carbon sequestration is that the removed carbon cannot leak or be re-emitted into the atmosphere for at least 100 years.  By sinking the CDR Crop at depths of more than 1000 meters, Seacat's carbon is mineralized and sequestered permanently on a geological timescale ~ that is, for thousands of years.

4. Quantifiable: Calculated according to scientific data through a recognized methodology.

The Protocol's measurement processes (e.g., crop weight and carbon content) will be the most accurate in all carbon markets.

Equally important, each CDR Plot and Crop will undergo a Lifecycle Emissions Analysis to determine the CO2e produced by the farm and CDR Process, such as new materials used in the farm structure and fossil fuels used during farming and the transportation of the Crop to the sequestration point.  These added CO2e emissions will then be subtracted from the Crop's sequestered carbon to quantify the NET carbon sequestered by each CDR Crop.  The net sequestered carbon is the amount presented on the Carbon Credit Certificates.

5. Socially Beneficial:  Seacat's CDR directly benefits our hardworking Partner Seaweed Farmers.

The best CDR programs reward the traditionally disadvantaged people and families that are working hard to save the planet.

An excellent primer on Carbon Credits and Carbon Markets: The Visual Capitalist's Complete Guide to Carbon Markets. 

All Philippine Seaweed Farms and Seaweed Farmers Associations are encouraged to become Seacat Members.

As a member, you will connect with other members to share information, best practices and resources to constantly improve your own seaweed operations.

Seacat Partners are Seacat Members that have already been selected by First Gigaton to receive funding for their first Seaweed-CDR Farm Plot.

Our goal is to make every Seacat Member a Seacat Partner as soon as possible.  The world needs us!

Unfortunately, your current crops do not meet two important criteria required for Carbon Credits.

1. Additionality.  Carbon Credits can only be issued for seaweed crops grown explicitly for carbon removal (CDR) and no other purpose.  Although seaweed crops grown for agar, carrageenan, food, feed, and fertilizer do remove carbon, carbon removal is only incidental.  That is, these crops would be grown whether they remove carbon or not.

2. Permanent.  Carbon Credits require the captured carbon to be sequestered for 100 years or more.  With seaweed products, there is always substantial leakage of carbon back into the atmosphere during processing and consumption.

The good news is that your crops that follow the Seacat Protocol will meet or exceed all five criteria for the highest quality carbon credit.  This gives Seacat Partners a distinct competitive advantage.

Your Seacat Seaweed-CDR Crop is not meant to replace your original seaweed crops.  Instead, we see your Seaweed CDR Crop as an addition to your current operations, giving you a new, growing, and reliable source of income and profit.

You are free to sell your original crops (i.e. not crops we are buying) to whoever and whenever you can.  We will never slow your success in any way.

However, First Gigaton has exclusive first rights to buy all your harvested crops grown in your Seacat CDR Plot.  Should First Gigaton be unable to purchase a harvest for some reason, you are free to sell it to another buyer.

For more information, connect with Mike Dickhout:

mike@firstgigaton.com

Call/Text: +1 250 327 8910

We look forward to hearing from you!

Seacat Seaweed Farmers Carbon Collective (sea.cat) is the growers/supply side of the world's first Seaweed-Powered Carbon Dioxide Removal (Seaweed-CDR) Market. 

Seacat brings together seaweed farms from across the Philippines (and soon the world) to dedicate growing allotments of their seaweed crops exclusively for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). 

Seacat is the exclusive supplier of CDR Credits to the First Gigaton Carbon Removal Collective.

First Gigaton (firstgigaton.com) is the buying/demand side of the Market.  First Gigaton crowdfunds the rapid scaling of the CDR capacity of our Seacat Partner Farms by providing companies and citizens with a complete range of unique and sustainable carbon-funding solutions. 

First Gigaton (firstgigaton.com)  is a start-up located on Canada's west coast on the traditional and unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples and the traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation (Nanaimo, BC). 

Our Mission is to remove atmospheric carbon fast enough to prevent catastrophic climate change and restore a stable, thriving biosphere.

Our Seaweed-Powered Carbon Dioxide Removal (Seaweed-CDR) Market removes carbon fast, measurably, and permanently.  

The Seacat Seaweed Farmers Carbon Collective (sea.cat) is the growers/supply side of the Market.  Seacat brings together seaweed farms from across the Philippines (and soon the world) to dedicate growing allotments of their seaweed crops exclusively for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). 

First Gigaton Carbon Removal Collective is the buyers/demand side of the Market.  First Gigaton crowdfunds the rapid scaling of the CDR capacity of our Seacat Partner Farms by providing companies and citizens with a complete range of unique and sustainable carbon-funding solutions. 

Our Goal is to capture ~ you guessed it ~ the first gigaton of global carbon emissions.  All our captured carbon will be measured, verified, and sequestered at depths greater than 1000 meters in oceans around the world.  Then we'll keep scaling until we have a stable climate and thriving biosphere.

Our Vision is for members of both collectives to be able to tell our grandkids and great-grandkids that ~

"We removed the first gigaton of global emissions and led the movement that reversed climate change.
. . . Now this beautiful world is yours."