Bren Smith

Bren Smith is an aquaculture professional and former commercial fisherman, best known for pioneering regenerative ocean farming and co-founding the non-profit GreenWave.[1][2]

Early life and career

Born in Maddox Cove, Newfoundland, Canada, Smith left school aged 14 to become a commercial fisherman, working on the Grand Banks and the Bering Sea.[1][3]

After leaving commercial fishing and later the fish farming industry, he founded Thimble Island Ocean Farm on the Thimbles Islands in Long Island Sound. There, Smith designed and refined a vertical system for cultivating kelp and shellfish which became known as “3D ocean farming” and later regenerative ocean farming. He subsequently co-founded GreenWave to promote the aquaculture of kelp and shellfish, create blue jobs, and restore ocean ecosystems.[4][2][5]

Smith graduated from Cornell Law School.[6]

Media and advocacy

Smith and his work have been featured by 60 Minutes[7], PBS NewsHour Brief But Spectacular[8], The New Yorker[9], NPR[10], The Wall Street Journal[11], the BBC[12], The Atlantic[13], Fast Company[14], Bon Appétit[15], and Saveur[16]. His writing about fishing, farming, and food systems has appeared in The New York Times[17] and on CNN[18].

Smith is profiled in documentary films and television programs including Leonardo DiCaprio’s HBO documentary Ice on Fire (2019)[19][20], To Which We Belong (2021)[21], The Ocean Solution (2022)[22], Food and Country (2023)[23][24], BBC’s Our Frozen Planet (2023)[12], PBS documentary series A Brief History of the Future (2024)[25], Food, Inc. 2 (2024)[26][27], and Fork in the Road (2026)[28].

In 2017, Smith’s TED Talk “The Least Deadliest Catch” detailed his journey from fisherman to ocean farmer[29]. That same year, he delivered an E. F. Schumacher Lecture, organized by the Schumacher Center for a New Economics, entitled “Ecological Redemption: Ocean Farming in the Era of Climate Change”[30].

Awards

In 2015, Smith’s model and GreenWave received the Buckminster Fuller Challenge for the multi-species ocean farming design[31], followed by the Index Award[32] and Sustainia Award in 2017[33], the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Climate Change Award in 2021[34] and the Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize that same year[35].

In 2017, Smith was named one of Rolling Stone’s 25 People Shaping the Future[36], and his farming model was named one of Time's 25 Best Inventions of 2017[37].

In 2020, his memoir, Eat Like a Fish, won a James Beard Foundation Book Award[38].

Smith is also an Ashoka Fellow[39] and an Echoing Green Climate Fellow[40].

Books

Smith’s memoir, Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures as a Fisherman Turned Restorative Ocean Farmer[41], was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2019 and received the 2020 James Beard Foundation Book Award in the Writing category[42]. Paul Hawken described the book as “a mind bending look into an extraordinary world by a stunning and gifted storyteller.”[41]

References

  1. 1 2 "Bren Smith". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 2026-08-02.
  2. 1 2 "'Regenerative ocean farming' could be coming soon to a coast near you | CBC News". CBC. Archived from the original on 2025-12-21. Retrieved 2026-08-02.
  3. ↑ Rose, Hilary (15 October 2019). "The ocean farmer who says the sea can save the planet". The Times. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  4. ↑ Goodyear, Dana (2015-10-26). "The Next Superfood". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2026-08-02.
  5. ↑ "Bren Smith | Yale Center for Business and the Environment". cbey.yale.edu. Retrieved 2026-08-02.
  6. ↑ Smith, Bren (2019). Eat Like A Fish - My adventures as a fisherman turned restorative ocean farmer. Vintage Books. ISBN 9780451494542.
  7. ↑ "Seaweed farming and its surprising benefits". Archived from the original on 2026-04-18. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  8. ↑ "A Brief but Spectacular Take on Making a Living on a Living Planet". PBS Brief but Spectacular. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  9. ↑ Goodyear, Dana (2015-10-26). "The Next Superfood". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  10. ↑ LeMoult, Craig (2012-10-12). "Kelp For Farmers: Seaweed Becomes A New Crop In America". NPR. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  11. ↑ Avila, Joseph De (2013-03-20). "Connecticut Seaweed: Life Down on the Kelp Farm". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  12. 1 2 BBC Earth (2023-03-23). Are Underwater Farms the Future of Food? | Our Frozen Planet | BBC Earth. Retrieved 2026-08-03 – via YouTube.
  13. ↑ Twilley, Nicola; Graber, Cynthia; Gastropod (2016-09-13). "Kelp Is the New Kale". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  14. ↑ Schiller, Ben (2015-11-10). "Vertical Seaweed Gardens are the New Way to Feed Ourselves from the Overfished Oceans". Fast Company. Retrieved 2026-08-08.
  15. ↑ Leone, Brad (2013-10-11). "Bren Smith Is Changing the Way Seaweed Is Grown—and Eaten". Bon Appétit. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  16. ↑ Wist, Allie (2018-06-12). "This Farmer Thinks Kelp Will Help Save the World". Saveur. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  17. ↑ Smith, Bren (2014-08-09). "Opinion | Don't Let Your Children Grow Up to Be Farmers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  18. ↑ Sutter, John D. (2014-09-20). "'I'm on the front lines of this crisis' | CNN". CNN. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  19. ↑ Weissberg, Jay (2019-06-11). "Film Review: 'Ice on Fire'". Variety. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  20. ↑ Gables, Rick and Christina (2019-06-08). "Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Ice On Fire' Offers Solutions to Climate Change". TV Insider. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  21. ↑ "To Which We Belong". To Which We Belong. Archived from the original on 2026-05-14. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  22. ↑ Patagonia Provisions (2021-09-09). The Ocean Solution | Patagonia Provisions. Retrieved 2026-08-03 – via YouTube.
  23. ↑ Lowe, Justin (2023-01-24). "'Food and Country' Review: A Dynamic Doc Profiling the Precarious State of America's Food System". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  24. ↑ Carey, Matthew (2024-08-21). "Greenwich Entertainment Sets Table For Theatrical Release Of 'Food And Country,' From Director Laura Gabbert, Producer Ruth Reichl". Deadline. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  25. ↑ A Brief History of the Future | Employing Long-Term Thinking to Empower Better Solutions | Episode 1. Retrieved 2026-08-03 – via www.pbs.org.
  26. ↑ "FOOD, INC. 2". Participant. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  27. ↑ Linden, Sheri (2023-09-02). "'Food, Inc. 2' Review: A Wake-Up Call That Strikes a Thoughtful Balance Between the Heartening and the Dire". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  28. ↑ "About". Fork In The Road Documentary. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  29. ↑ TEDx Talks (2013-12-12). Vertical ocean farming - the least deadliest catch | Bren Smith | TEDxBermuda. Retrieved 2026-08-03 – via YouTube.
  30. ↑ Smith, Bren. "Ecological Redemption: Ocean Farming in the Era of Climate Change". Schumacher Center for a New Economics. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  31. ↑ Laylin, Tafline (2015-10-22). "GreenWave ocean farming model scoops $100,000 sustainability prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  32. ↑ Spears, Tim (2017-09-03). "INDEX: award 2017 winners revealed". designboom | architecture & design magazine. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  33. ↑ Cirino, Erica (2017-04-26). "My vertical underwater farming can restore the seas". New Scientist. Retrieved 2026-08-08.
  34. ↑ "The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation's Planetary Health Awards". www.fpa2.org. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  35. ↑ "GreenWave - Taking ocean farming to new depths". Food Planet Prize. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  36. ↑ Brassil, Jeff Goodell,Mark Binelli,Tessa Stuart,Ben Wofford,Amanda Chicago Lewis,Zoe Carpenter,Alexander Zaitchik,Jonah Weiner,Tim Dickinson,Saul Elbein,Justin Nobel,Brian Patrick Eha,Gillian (2017-11-17). "25 People Shaping the Future". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2026-08-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  37. ↑ "The 25 Best Inventions of 2017". TIME. Archived from the original on 2026-07-29. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  38. ↑ "James Beard Foundation | JBF". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  39. ↑ "Ashoka Fellow Bren Smith". Ashoka. Archived from the original on 2024-06-25. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  40. ↑ "Bren Smith". Echoing Green Fellows Directory. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  41. 1 2 "Eat Like a Fish: A James Beard Award Winner by Bren Smith: 9781101974322". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  42. ↑ "The 2020 James Beard Media Award Winners". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
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