Planktos ocean-fertilization plans adrift

Sea-seeding plan goes adrift
Company backed by Nelson Skalbania considers winding down amid financial woes
Wendy Stuek, The Globe and Mail 20 Dec 07;

VANCOUVER -- As gardening schemes go, it was nothing if not ambitious - seed the ocean with iron dust, triggering massive plankton blooms that would fight global warming by sucking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, generating lucrative carbon credits along the way.

That was the idea. But now the ocean-fertilization plans of Planktos Corp., which generated headlines around the globe and triggered heated debate in the scientific community, may themselves be adrift.

The California company's story has been covered by The New York Times, CNN and others, and its concept has been debated at scientific conferences, though so far it has not seeded any sites with iron dust.

Yesterday, in a statement, Planktos warned of financial trouble and said its ship had been turned away from the Canary Islands, but provided little detail.

Planktos, backed by Vancouver financier Nelson Skalbania, said in a shareholder update yesterday that financial woes and the "unanticipated turn of events in the Canary Islands" have forced management to consider a "general winding down of business operations until such time as it can better assess its priorities in relation to the availability of capital."

Further information will be forthcoming as management and the board explores all options open to the company, the statement said.

According to the statement, Planktos's ship, Weatherbird II, was turned away from the Spanish port of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands earlier this month and is now in the port on the Portuguese island of Madeira.

No reasons were given for the ship being turned away, but Planktos has previously encountered protests from environmental groups opposed to the company's plans to seed the ocean.

The concept that Planktos, based in Foster City, Calif., was promoting has been the subject of studies over the past decade and, with global warming a pressing concern, is generating significant scientific and commercial interest.

Last year, the company filed an amendment regarding its scientific advisory board, acknowledging it had erroneously listed several "informal unpaid advisers" as if they were formally installed on an advisory board.

One of those erroneously listed was Victor Smetacek, a biological oceanographer at Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and a leading authority in ocean fertilization. Mr. Smetacek asked for his name to be removed from Planktos's advisory board after learning from another scientist that he was listed as a member.

He remains skeptical of the company's approach.

"Although I am convinced that iron fertilization, if carried out in the right locations, will help to reduce atmospheric CO{-2} levels somewhat (only if emissions are drastically reduced), I fail to see how the amount removed relative to iron added can be verified, as can a planted forest," he said recently in an e-mail.

Ocean fertilization requires more independent study that can be verified by recognized agencies, he added.

Planktos may not have achieved the profile it did had it not been for Mr. Skalbania. A financier and one-time sports mogul - he owned teams including the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers and the Canadian Football League's B.C. Lions - Mr. Skalbania has been involved with Planktos for several years, helping to take the company public and raising funds.

Neither Mr. Skalbania nor Planktos founder and president Russ George were available to comment yesterday.

But in a recent interview, Mr. George, in response to questions about teaming up with Mr. Skalbania and Vancouver's stock promotion scene, said he had spent years scrounging for funds to pursue his scientific venture before successfully connecting with Mr. Skalbania.

"Nelson Skalbania was the only guy who would put money up," Mr. George said. "Is it a challenge to work with that community? Yes. Has the result been that they have poured millions into this work? Absolutely. Has the work suddenly gained international prominence because of their green angel funding? Absolutely. Is it going to be in time to save the oceans? Maybe not. But we are going to give it a shot."

Planktos said its shares were delisted effective yesterday from Nasdaq's over-the-counter bulletin board as a result of the company's failure to file required reports on time.

The company's shares will continue to trade on the Pink Sheets, a centralized quotation service that, like the bulletin board, has minimal reporting requirements.