2025 was a big year for Green Ocean Foundation with so many wins. It was the foundation’s first full year as an ocean recovery organisation and in the final few days before the Christmas break, we were gifted with the news that Green Ocean Foundation was officially recognised as a charity by the Irish Charities Regulator. This has been a monumental step for our growth and gaining support.
In October 2025,18,000 oysters were introduced into Dún Laoghaire to continue their work of filtering the waters of Dublin Bay allowing marine biodiversity to flourish. This was with the help of some hugely supportive sponsors and volunteers from Goodbody, Matheson LLP, Jenkinson Logistics, Farmhand Ltd, Watermark Coffee and Vagabond Tours Ltd.
On the same day, our first Wicklow project was launched in Greystones with thanks to the support of some super stakeholders such as Wicklow County Council and Greystones Harbour Marina and funders Codling Wind Park.
At Green Ocean Foundation, it is imperative that we back up everything we do with science. In 2025, we were delighted to welcome Fiona Regan and her team at the DCU Water Institute who will be monitoring the progress of each project.
What’s Happened at Green Ocean in 2026?
2026 so far has seen even further growth in bot our nature restoration projects and our team. Green Ocean Foundation is a multi-disciplinary and volunteer-led charity supported by people from various background and skills sets. To kick off the year, we formed a leadership team of six. This structure enables the roll out of future projects. We also established a highly experienced Board of Directors who have been formative in ensuring impactful governance that has supported the efficient effective, transparent and accountable running of the charity. You can get to know the whole Green Ocean team here.
Thanks to media outlets and their journalists like RTÉ, Irish Independent, The Guardian, Dublin City FM (The Green Room), Nationwide and more, the profile of Green Ocean Foundation has exponentially increased and gained interest with an array of people.
Our Green Ocean community is growing as more people gain more interest in our nature restoration projects. Our hardworking and passionate volunteers too have been fundamental in keeping the Green Ocean show on the road. The support from our corporate funders in the past year has been hugely significant in allowing us to plan for the future. We welcomed two new corporate partners in 2026 – Abbey Group and Collen Construction.
Update on Our Green Ocean Projects So Far:
We’re coming into the final quarter of the year and the year mark since we launched our Greystones pilot project and deployed our 18,000 native oysters in Dún Laoghaire. So we thought it might be timely to share an update on each of our projects so far.
Green Ocean Dún Laoghaire
As mentioned, 2025 saw the initiation of Phase 3 of our most established Green Ocean project site in Dún Laoghaire Marina. 18,000 native oysters were deployed filtering 1.4 billon litres of water a year and creating a brood stock for future oyster generations. Survival rate has been really high so our native oysters are still thriving and happy.
We installed our first water sensor to gain real-time data on the impact the oysters are having on the water. This data is fed straight to our scientific partners at DCU Water Institute and will be available soon on our website. We also introduced our first spawning pond to kickstart natural reef growth – more news on that to come!
Green Ocean Greystones
In Greystones, we deployed over 200 native oysters as part of the pilot project. So far they are thriving and we have seen a 97% survival rate – the strongest survival rate so far over all our projects. This is super promising for our first Wicklow-based project and encourages us to grow.
We also held a launch event in February 2026 in what was horrifically wet and wild weather – and the Greystones community showed up in force. We’ve seen great enthusiasm, interest and support from local schools and groups, such as Greystones Tidy Towns, which has been hugely motivating too.
Green Ocean Howth
Our Howth oysters have been thriving too. By the end of 2025, 600 oysters had been deployed into the marina. Survival rate has been high here too with each oyster filtering up to 190 litres of water a day.
Green Ocean Malahide
Malahide Marina has seen a super successful pilot project of 250 oysters. So much so, that we now have the opportunity to scale up this project. This October, we’ll introduce another 18,000 native oysters into 300 floating baskets, replicating the progress which has been made in Dún Laoghaire. This is with the help of our partners Collen Construction and the support of the team in Malahide Marina.
Exciting times ahead, watch out for our updates!