The Ocean's Keeper - The Grand Blue Project

While most of us were learning about this new thing called the internet, Edi Frommenwiler was hand-building a boat in an Indonesian shipyard. 

The year was 1992. The World Wide Web had just been born, but Edi was creating something else entirely – a floating laboratory that would become Indonesia’s first international-standard liveaboard.

What happened next reads like a conservation fairy tale, except it’s real.

“We know more about the surface of Mars than we do about our own ocean floor”

For over 33 years, this Swiss-born marine explorer has been quietly compiling what may be the most complete visual record of Indonesia’s underwater world – over 80,000 clips of raw footage capturing life in some of Earth’s most biodiverse waters. 

Now, that lifetime of work has emerged as the Grand Blue Project, a digital platform that could change how humanity understands and protects our oceans.

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow Coming

Edi’s story begins with a simple observation: we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about our own ocean floor. But unlike most people who merely lament this fact, he decided to do something about it.

In the early 1990s, when Raja Ampat was still a whisper among diving circles, Edi was already there with his camera. 

When scientists needed proof that these waters held the planet’s highest marine biodiversity, it was Edi’s footage that provided the evidence. 

His documentation helped secure what is now the Bird’s Head Seascape Marine Protected Area – protecting the largest area of marine habitat in Indonesia.

But Edi saw something else coming: the race against time.

“Every day we delay understanding what lives beneath the waves, we risk losing it forever.” 

– Edi Frommenwiler

Climate change, pollution, and overfishing are accelerating faster than our ability to document what we’re destroying. 

In his three decades diving Indonesian waters, he’s watched reefs bleach, species disappear, and entire ecosystems shift.

“We can’t protect what we don’t understand.“

From Personal Archive to Global Resource

What started as one man’s passion project has evolved into something bigger. 

The Grand Blue Project now houses 5,500 verified 4K videos covering more than 1,500 marine species – each linked to over 50 data points including habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation status.

This is an interactive learning system designed for our connected age:

For divers:
Pre- and post-dive briefings that transform underwater encounters into learning opportunities. 

For educators:
Curriculum-aligned lesson plans for marine biology programs. 

For scientists:
Soon adding real-time species mapping powered by community sightings. 

For everyone:
A multi-lingual platform that makes marine knowledge accessible across cultures.

The platform’s “Tree of Life” tool reveals connections between species – turning abstract taxonomy into visual storytelling. It’s marine education reimagined for the smartphone generation.

Behind the Beauty

Here’s what makes the Grand Blue Project more than just an impressive database: it’s a response to an unfolding crisis. The ocean produces over half the oxygen we breathe and absorbs a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions. 

Yet most people have never seen the creatures that make this possible.

We can’t protect what we don’t understand. We can’t value what we’ve never seen.

Indonesia’s waters – the heart of the Coral Triangle – contain the world’s highest marine biodiversity. But they’re also ground zero for environmental pressures. Coral bleaching, plastic pollution, overfishing, and coastal development are creating what scientists call a “perfect storm” of threats.

Edi’s footage captures this reality in real-time. His archive doesn’t just show what Indonesian waters look like today – it preserves a visual baseline for what we stand to lose.

Building a Movement

The most innovative aspect is the impressive video library and how it transforms passive viewers into active contributors. Liveaboard crews access the platform to improve guest briefings. 

• Schools integrate it into marine biology curricula. 
• Each interaction strengthens the global picture of marine biodiversity.

And soon, dive operators get QR codes to help guests contribute observations. 

Every person who logs a sighting, shares footage, or tags a species helps expand the platform’s knowledge base.

Partners earn commission on subscriptions sold through their referrals, creating sustainable incentives for conservation education. 

It’s proof that environmental protection and economic viability can work together.

“Global challenges require global collaboration”

The Race Against Time

Like seed vaults that preserve plant genetics, this platform preserves our visual and scientific understanding of marine ecosystems.

But unlike a passive archive, it’s designed to inspire action. 

Every video, every species profile, every community contribution is showing people what lives beneath the waves so they’re more likely to protect it.

This is conservation storytelling evolved – when global challenges require global collaboration, when traditional education struggles to compete with digital entertainment, and when environmental protection needs both scientific rigor and emotional connection.

Contribute, Learn, Share, Protect.

This platform is designed for your participation. It’s the ideal tool for schools and cruiseship guests to learn more about the interconnectedness of the sea.

Edi’s message is clear: 

“If people can see marine life in detail, they are more likely to respect it and protect it.” 

The Grand Blue Project takes that philosophy and scales it globally.

In an age when environmental news often feels overwhelming, this is a story about solutions. 

One person’s commitment has created a tool that democratizes marine knowledge, connects global communities, and transforms how we think about ocean conservation.

Dive into the world’s largest interactive marine education platform. Because the ocean’s future depends on how well we understand it today.

Want this for your classroom or cruise?

Visite grandblueproject.com 

Suivez-nous sur Instagram :
grandblueproject

Contact Edi and his team today! 

E-mail:
hello@grandblueproject.com

WhatsApp
+62 812-3815-771
Edi Frommenwiler

This article was made possible in collaboration with Pindito live-aboard.