Empowering stewardship for sea and society.

our mission

The health of the Ocean is crucial to sustaining life on Earth.

However, effective protection requires collaboration among many stakeholders including conservationists, regulators, and coastal communities. Despite sharing the same mission, these groups often struggle to work together.

Policies developed in isolation, without meaningful input from local communities, frequently harm both marine ecosystems and livelihoods. This creates mistrust which hampers cooperative efforts and can create an environment where common goals feel out of reach.

Despite technological advancements and improved access to Ocean data, many innovations fail to gain traction. This is because solutions are developed without input from end users. This disconnect stifles the adoption of new practices, undermining the potential of technology to drive change.

To truly protect the Ocean, we must unite local communities, marine scientists, government agencies, and technology innovators. The Ocean’s health depends on all of us swimming in the same direction.

why kai?

People from around the world use the same word in different ways as a result of their heritage and culture.

In Hawaiian, Kai means ‘sea’. In Maori it means ‘food’. In Japanese culture, the name means ‘shell’. In Europe, Kai is perceived as having Frisian roots, a short form of the name Kaimbe, meaning ‘warrior’. Kai is also considered to have Welsh, Scandinavian, and Greek origins, meaning ‘keeper of the keys; earth’.

People from around the world use the same word in different ways as a result of their heritage and culture - but despite their different interpretations, it has a common theme- The Ocean.

The Ocean brings us all together, a commonality among different cultures and experiences and we think that represents what we’re all about at Kai - bringing people together for the Ocean.