
FISHTANK
$10K+ IN CASH AND PRIZES TO BE WON!
Fishing for great ideas to help the ocean from the bright young minds in
our community to inspire the next generation of ocean innovators.

Welcome to the FishTank Competition—an exciting Ocean Lovers initiative that empowers students to become future leaders in ocean conservation!
Open to primary and secondary students across NSW, this competition challenges young minds to create innovative solutions for protecting our oceans. By engaging with real-world environmental issues, students will have the chance to showcase their creativity, pitch their ideas, and make a tangible difference.
The competition aligns with the NSW Department of Education curriculum, supporting key areas like STEM, sustainability, and leadership development, fostering creative problem-solving, critical thinking, and environmental stewardship—making it a valuable addition to your school’s teaching plans.
With generous prizes, the opportunity to present to a live audience, and exposure through the Ocean Lovers Festival in 2025, this is the perfect platform to inspire your students to turn their passion for the ocean into action and create waves of change.
Sign up your school today and be part of the movement for a healthier, more sustainable planet!
SECONDARY SCHOOL PRIZES
$5,000 - Yrs 10 – 12 Prize winner
$3,000 - Yrs 7 – 9 Prize winner
$2,000 - People’s Choice Prize winner
PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIZES
$200 - Yrs 3 – 4 Prize winner
$200 - Yrs 5 – 6 Prize winner
$100 - People’s Choice Prize Winner
The 2025 Fish Tank presentation will be hosted live at the Ocean Lovers Festival by youth change-maker, educator and councillor, Kal Glanznig and Miss Earth 2024 Jessica Lane.
To cast your vote, hover over the image and click on the 'heart' in the bottom left corner. Or, click on the artwork image and click the 'heart' button in the top left corner. The winner will be announced at the Ocean Lovers Festival!
2025 FINALISTS

Pacific Hills Christian School – Year 12
The culture in society regarding environmental sustainability and innovation among schools is negative as students feel overwhelmed by the need for change and feel as though their actions are insignificant for a future of sustainability. To identify a solution to ocean sustainability, we believe there needs to be a culture shift from paralysing fear and environmental apathy towards an excitement for creative idea generation and an assurance that the small initiatives will help move towards ocean and environment sustainability. Through our social media account and website (small significance) we will shift environmental guilt to a FOMO and a competition to motivate mass idea generation with the goal of ocean sustainability achieved through school, community groups and individual initiatives.
Our initiative is a culture shift via social media and an interactive website to encourage creative ideas. The website follows the concept of a google form and will include format, structure and prompts needed to brainstorm new ideas to help the ocean and assist with its biodiversity. We will also put out public statistics and brainstorms to create a competitive, encouraging and hopeful atmosphere of innovation and collaboration. Our schools environmental club is attempting to lead a culture shift within our school community through modelling this concept of small significance through small educational initiatives and our idea of calcium carbonate glitter to slowly address the issue of ocean acidification. We came up with our glitter and paint idea using our idea generations and collaboration format. The oceans have a natural buffering system which sinks a lot of earths CO2 emissions however this system has a limit. One of the main concerns with rising levels of CO2 is ocean acidification which shifts this buffer to reduce the increased acidity from the increased amount of dissolving CO2 which in turn decreases the available calcium carbonate affecting shell abundance and the structural integrity for marine species (corals, plankton and molluscs). Bigger actions take much more time and need to be tested and regulated which is unrealistic for smaller communities. They also usually eventually find large negative issues regarding these solutions. Thus, our idea involving the capturing of CO2 at coal power plants to create a carbonate material to provide a more sustainable glitter and paint alternative is a small idea that can be evolved on our website through collaboration. The structure we followed to create this idea is as follows:
• Identify what needs to be different and why?
• Owning the issue and find inspiration
• Invest in problem (find the positives and negatives)
• Collaboration
• Resist the negative (NO BAD IDEAS)
• Do something even if it is small
This website will be marketed on our social media where we will use memes and popular internet culture to relate to the creative younger generations and school students and we will utilise the power of social media to spread awareness and prompt a culture shift within our school community and the wider community. The website will create a community for collaboration among schools and other organisations to give young people resources to address issues with their ideas.
The advantages of the small significant website are that it provides a space for collaboration and a place where small ideas can be made big. It shifts society to be more proactive and creates a culture of contribution no matter how small, which in turn will encourage idea generate on and increase the probability of a great significant idea and will accumulate small ideas creating a significant movement and shift in culture.
Oceans are the lungs of the earth providing humanity with majority of the oxygen needed to breath. Often the idea of ‘saving the oceans’ and ‘working towards a sustainable future’ is daunting for the younger generations and students like me and I believe this has caused an apathetic attitude among youth as they are paralysed by worry and uncertainty of what they could actually do. Most of us do nothing as we feel we are too insignificant to make a dent in the issue even though something is better than nothing. Through providing resources and a platform to contribute and read about ideas we aim to shift societies apathetic response to declining ocean wellbeing and encourage contribution. Help us change the culture of society through contribution and collaboration no matter how small.

Rose Bay Secondary School – Year 12
At current rates plastic is expected to outweigh all the fish in the sea by 2050. There is an estimated 75 to 199 million tons of plastic waste currently in our oceans, with a further 33 billion pounds of plastic entering the marine environment every single year. On a daily basis, 8 million pieces of plastic make their way into our waterways.
These plastic take different forms, with commonly found plastics include cigarette buffs, food wrappers, beverage bottles, straws, cups and plates, bottle caps, and single-use bags. Just think about all the plastic items you use daily: the toothbrush you grab first thing in the morning, the container your lunch comes in, or the bottle you drink water from after your workout. All these things get used and, eventually, thrown out.
These are used and discarded quickly. If this waste isn’t properly disposed of or managed, it can end up in the ocean. There are many people who disregard the impact of plastic on marine life and the health of our marine ecosystem, but the impacts are very real.
Most importantly, it is our responsibility to clean up this mess, but it can't be done just by reusing, recycling, and reducing the amount of plastic in our oceans. It has to be done by physically cleaning and painstakingly removing the plastic from the ocean, with successful iterations such as the Ocean cleanup having a major positive impact on this problem.
But here begs the question: what can we do with this removed Ocean plastic?
Well, one can burn it, one can landfill it, or one can consume it (a study found microplastics have been ingested via marine life consumption).
This is where my idea comes into play, taking these plastics and creating a brand of musical instruments – TideTone Guitars.
My idea will take these oceans plastics, and with the help of industrially removing the pollutants and harmful bacteria, compress the shredded HDPE (most common type of Ocean plastic) into dense blocks, then utilise automated machinery like CNC or by hand and create fully functional electric guitars.
By repurposing these plastics instead of chucking them away in landfill, we can slowly reduce the amount of plastics in the ocean, we and help reconfigure the homeostasis of our amazing world.
Not only can we supply these instruments to musicians locally and globally, but by making more affordable and cheaper variations we can target and supply schools and education centres, attaching the creative and happy association of music to help educate the future generations on what is the right way to repurpose plastic, and the importance of recycling.
By partnering with major ocean cleanup corporations like 4Ocean and The Ocean Cleanup, we can continue the stream of manufacturing these goods, expanding our business by purchasing industrial cleaners and shredders – mass producing these instruments and then using those profits to fund future business ideas and research into repurposing plastic.
Fuelled by my own love for music and love for the environment, TideTone guitars is an innovation providing a solution to one of the most demanding problems of the 21st century, cleaning the lifelines of our planet one note at a time.

GRC Peakhurst – Year 9
Each year, approximately 100,000 marine animals succumb to plastic pollution. Moreover, over
10 marine species each year are teetering on the brink of extinction due to plastic consumption.
Additionally, more than 1,000 marine species are losing their habitats as plastics suffocate
corals, leading to a loss of biodiversity and significant damage to ecosystems.
The microplastic pontoon is a floating buoy anchored to the bottom of the floor by a wave
generated turbine, which produces energy for the buoy above the surface. This energy is
transferred through a cable connecting the buoy to the generator that powers the reverse
osmosis unit. This unit filters out microplastics from sea water using a semipermeable
membrane and pressure, allowing the seawater to be converted into freshwater and then
returned to the sea plastic free. Additionally solar panels on top of the buoy provide extra energy
to the pumps located in the reverse osmosis system ensuring continuous operation.
By targeting microplastics it stops nano plastic and smaller forms of plastic being produced, this
stops the chemical and biodegradation of the uv radiation process that is required to transform
microplastics into nano plastics.

Smiths Hill High School – Year 12
Our oceans are on the brink. Pollution, global warming, and habitat destruction have led to higher carbon levels, lower marine biodiversity, and loss of vital ecosystems. We're witnessing the gradual destruction of the very waters that give life to our world. But what if the key to restoring our oceans isn't high-tech, expensive solutions—but the natural world? Our dream is simple but revolutionary: leverage the strength of oysters and seaweed to purify our oceans, restore marine life, and combat global warming. With a sustainable program for oyster and seaweed farming, we aim to prove that grassroots action on a small scale can add up to create a big difference in the planet. This endeavor is not only about saving oceans—it's about empowering people to be part of the solution.
Human actions have taken the fragile equilibrium of the ocean for a punch. Over 30% of fish in the entire world are overfished, and the pollution that is released as agricultural runoff and plastic particles has caused dead zones where marine life is unable to thrive anymore. Also, the ocean absorbs an enormous amount of carbon dioxide into itself, and ocean acidification, which disheartens coral reefs and destroys marine food webs. Current remedies, such as huge cleanups and artificial reefs, while beneficial in certain aspects, are expensive, time-intensive, and difficult to scale up. We need something that is inexpensive, organic, and scalable, something that works with the ocean's current ecosystem rather than against it.
Oysters and seaweed are the ocean's unsung heroes. These little sea animals have the ability to heal the oceans through their natural biological processes. Oysters filter naturally. One oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day, drawing in excess nitrogen, poisons, and algae blooms that kill sea life. Seaweed draws out carbon dioxide with efficiency rates up to 50 times the rate of a tree. Seaweed draws in CO₂, reduces ocean acidification, and provides a home for sea species. They give sustainable sea ecosystems in total. Oyster reefs are havens for crabs, fish, and other marine animals, while seaweed forests are nurseries and breeding grounds for sea creatures. By putting in place modest-scale, community-managed oyster and seaweed farms, we can restore coastal waters, increase biodiversity, and assist with combating climate change—all while building sustainable economic returns.
Our project will start with a pilot—a small but highly efficient farm in a polluted coastal region with declining marine biodiversity. The process will likely involve site selection and identifying the most appropriate locations by water quality, depth, and community engagement. Infrastructure establishment will involve the placement of biodegradable seaweed lines and oyster reefs using eco-friendly materials. We will have monitoring and research in coordination with marine biologists to track water quality improvement, increase in biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. Local community engagement will be the focus, with local schools, volunteers, and fishermen to engage in the project, taking the ocean restoration as a community activity. Finally, subject to the success of the pilot project, we will go ahead and upscale and replicate the model to other coastal communities.
To ensure that this project is a success, we need people not only to believe in but also to act on it. Our marketing strategy involves social media outreach, educational campaigns, and strategic alliances. Social media viral campaigns shall include gripping videos, before-and-after scenes of ocean recovery, and real-time reports from the farm to serve as an example of tangible change. School and university partnerships will involve workshops, research activities, and field trips to educate students on the restoration of marine life. The partnership with the local government departments and businesses will encourage sustainable seafood restaurants and policy-makers to prefer oyster reef restoration. Ecotourism and public involvement will also add their bit in the form of farm tours, oyster seeding events, and volunteer schemes for hands-on engagement. By making ocean restoration a narrative-driven movement, we can inspire thousands to volunteer, donate time or funds, or spread the word.
This effort spreads far beyond restoring the ocean—it creates a ripple effect of kindness across a variety of fields. The impact on the environment is cleaner water, with oyster filtration removing nitrogen and pollutants from the water and making it pure. Seaweed farms will capture carbon, reducing greenhouse gases. Marine biodiversity will come back as reefs and seaweed beds form habitat, replenishing fish. Coastal protection will also be increased because oyster reefs prevent shorelines from eroding through sea level rise. Additionally, the project brings community and economic benefits from oyster and seaweed culture jobs, education and awareness through hands-on marine biology education, food security through seaweed and oysters as sustainable, healthy sources of food, and tourism and recreation opportunities attracting eco-tourism, promoting local economies.
Our vision isn't just about fighting climate change—it's about remaking the future of our oceans. We have the opportunity to build a scalable, sustainable model that can be replicated along the world's coasts. It's not just a concept—it's a movement. And we begin today. By placing a wager on nature-based solutions—oysters and seaweed—we can rebalance the ocean's ecosystem, benefitting people and creating a world where humans and the ocean thrive together. Do you want to join the solution? Join us, and let’s bring our oceans back to life.

Rose Bay Secondary College – Year 7
The critically endangered Grey Nurse Sharks live only 1km from my home and school in Bondi Beach.
Grey Nurse Sharks are not harmful to humans and are often called ‘Labrador’s of the sea’. They are beautiful creatures and need our help because they are critically endangered.
Grey Nurse Shark numbers are decreasing and one factor contributing to their decline is the accidental ingestion of fish hooks.
Fish hooks get accidentally eaten by Grey Nurse Sharks when they are hunting for food. When the fishing line is cut off by the person fishing and the shark swims away, the hook is still inside their body doing internal damage.
If I can invent a dissolvable fish hook, it would help the survivabity of many Grey Nurse Sharks. A dissolvable fish hook would also help up to 30 other endangered marine species that are caught accidentally on fishing lines in NSW.