NatureHelm and Monterey Bay Aquarium: New Nature-Positive Standard Set for India’s Shrimp Aquaculture Industry

Canberra, Australia: 18.06.2026 – In a major move toward the financial and ecological verification of sustainable seafood, NatureHelm has partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Global Programs, to deliver a groundbreaking biodiversity baseline across one of India’s most intensive shrimp production landscapes.

The initiative, part of the Aquarium’s “Just Transition for Nature” project, covers farms within a massive 4-million-hectare catchment in East and West Godavari. By leveraging NatureHelm’s biodiversity intelligence platform, the project has filled a critical “data desert,” identifying over 1,200 species—including 67 threatened and 65 invasive species—that were previously overlooked by standard industry environmental audits standards.

As the global seafood industry shifts from simple “do no harm” promises toward “nature-positive” outcomes, the lack of granular data has been a persistent barrier. Traditionally, aquaculture sustainability has focused solely on commercial species, ignoring the complex ecosystems surrounding the farms.

“Working in seafood, people often don’t see why a nature baseline is essential; the focus is often only on the target commercial species. But you can’t look at a farm in isolation, particularly when we are dealing with water flows—nature doesn’t stop at the farm gate,” said Dr. Darian McBain, Senior Fellow for a Just Nature Transition, Monterey Bay Aquarium. “Partnering with NatureHelm will allow us to move from uncertainty to action. By identifying the specific species and risks within our production landscape, we are now building a monitoring program that sets a new global benchmark for nature protection in sustainable aquaculture.”

Key Outcomes of the Partnership:

• 100% Data Gap Filled: Aggregated data from 53 sources and 117,000 observations to create a baseline that didn’t previously exist for this landscape.
• Scientific Credibility for Finance: Established the “State of Nature” baseline required to unlock sustainable finance, including blue bonds, green loans, and the nascent biodiversity credit market.
• Scalable Monitoring: Deployment of eDNA testing, through collaboration with local universities and local communities enables collection of high quality data to further action
• Disease & Risk Management: Identifying environmental vectors to better understand disease outbreaks.

The project demonstrates that sustainable shrimp farming is both possible and investable. By connecting management actions—such as mangrove restoration and sedimentation ponds—directly to biodiversity outcomes, the model is now ready to be scaled globally.

“Nature is part of the solution, not the problem,” added Dr. Debbie Saunders, CEO of NatureHelm. “By providing a credible, repeatable baseline, we are enabling the seafood industry to move beyond farm-by-farm certification toward landscape-level verification. This creates the transparency needed to build global trust and attract nature-positive investment.”