
Who Are We?
Clear Blue Sea is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in San Diego on 2016. We are dedicated to reducing pollution in our seas and waterways with innovative engineering designed by our passionate group of volunteers, mentors, and interns.
Our Mission
Our mission is to clean up the ocean as it has been plagued by human ignorance. We have successfully developed FRED, a Floating Robot for Eliminating Debris, and need all the help we can get to put it into action.


How Can I Help?
Our work is supported by our generous sponsors, and donations from individuals like you. Stay in touch with us through our social media and email list!
You can become directly involved with Clear Blue Sea’s efforts by joining our team of volunteers and interns! We offer opportunities in engineering, sustainability, government policy, marketing, and business to individuals of all experience levels. Click here to fill out an application!
We Make Things Happen
Clear Blue Sea’s multi-disciplinary approach includes…
Educating the Public on the Current Crisis
Clear Blue Sea has informed more than 2,500 K-12 and college students on ocean plastics and remediation innovations through class presentations, workshops, and internship projects. With guidance from academic partners we develop educational materials about the ocean plastic crisis, the need for greater recycling, and our FRED (Floating Robot for Eliminating Debris) innovation.
Advocating for ocean conservancy
We focus on community programs and events, including briefings to local government and interest groups, addressing the scope and impact of ocean plastic on our ecosystems and economic sectors. We engage with public, academic, and conservancy audiences through activities such as beach cleanups, presentations at conferences, and social media outreach.
Innovating Waterway Cleanup Solutions
To date, Clear Blue Sea has sponsored 250+ high school and college interns to design, build, test, and demonstrate multiple FRED prototypes. We have two small-scale 6-foot FRED operational prototypes that are being upgraded for a robot swarm capability, to work in fleets cleaning up pollution in local waterways. We also have a larger 16-foot FRED operational model designed for larger bodies of water. We are developing instructions for a DIY FRED to enable any high school robotics club or community conservancy organization around the world to build their own FRED and deploy the robot to clean up its local marine environments. All FREDs have been tested in our local San Diego Mission Bay and plan for further tests in local San Diego waterways to demonstrate our robot capabilities.