When Love Transcends the Tide: The Growing Movement of Pet Sea Burials and Eco-Friendly Farewell Options
The bond between humans and their beloved pets has never been stronger, and as this relationship deepens, so too does our desire to honor our furry family members with meaningful, dignified farewells. The pet funeral service rate has been increasing due to the trend of pet humanization and rising ownership among the younger population, driven by the increasing emotional bond between pets and their owners. Today, pet parents are seeking alternatives to traditional cremation and burial that reflect both their environmental values and their deep love for their companions.
The Rise of Alternative Pet Aftercare Services
The global pet funeral services market size is expected to reach USD 3.75 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 11.45% from 2025 to 2030, with the market reaching USD 1.8 Billion in 2024 and projected to reach USD 3.9 Billion by 2033. This remarkable growth reflects a fundamental shift in how we view pet aftercare, moving beyond simple disposal to meaningful memorialization.
Pet aftercare has evolved to include alternative options to honor and memorialize the lives of our beloved companions, including cremation, aquamation, and green burial in eco-friendly and pet-inclusive whole-family cemeteries, with several new environmentally friendly cremation options becoming more widely available. Among these emerging trends, sea burials for pets are gaining particular attention as families seek unique ways to honor their companions.
Aquamation: The Gentle Water-Based Alternative
One of the most significant developments in pet aftercare is aquamation, also known as alkaline hydrolysis or water cremation. Aquamation—also known as bio-cremation, resomation, and flameless cremation—is an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional cremation or burial, formally called alkaline hydrolysis, which replicates natural deterioration where a body goes through an accelerated version of natural decomposition.
What takes years to occur in nature takes only 20 hours with aquamation, mimicking exactly what happens in nature but only taking 20 hours to complete. The water-based process boasts zero emissions and uses only one twentieth of a cremation’s energy, requiring only about 5% of the energy necessary for heat cremation and leaving only about 10% of a carbon footprint.
For instance, in January 2022, the Compassionate Care Pet Aquamation, based in New York, launched Aquamation, a new technology that provides pet owners with a great alternative to their pet cremation through fire and burial. This innovation demonstrates how the industry is responding to consumer demand for more environmentally conscious options.
The Growing Trend of Pet Sea Burials
Another memorial that is growing in popularity is a burial at sea, which involves scattering ashes in water, with a memorial option that is growing in popularity in 2025 being a burial at sea or water burial. A few decades ago, the phrase ‘water burial’ or ‘sea burial’ was seldom heard by funeral directors, but today, more and more people are requesting a water burial and funeral homes are now presenting more creative options to cater to this demand.
However, it’s important to note that pet remains are not allowed to be buried at sea under the general permit according to EPA regulations for human sea burials. This has led to specialized services that focus specifically on pet memorial options that comply with local regulations while still providing meaningful water-based ceremonies.
The Environmental Protection Agency offers important guidelines for water burial including that any dispersal should take place at least three nautical miles from shore and that only biodegradable materials be used for at sea burials. While these regulations primarily apply to human remains, they highlight the importance of environmental responsibility in water-based memorial services.
Eternal Peace Sea Burials: Serving Long Island with Compassion
For families in the Long Island and Queens area seeking dignified farewell options, companies like Eternal Peace Sea Burials are providing specialized services that honor both pets and humans. Eternal Peace Sea Burials serves Long Island & Queens, NY with sea burial services that are serene, dignified, and personalized ocean tributes, proudly serving the communities of Nassau County and Queens, NY with convenient locations allowing them to offer services to families throughout these regions.
At Eternal Peace Sea Burials, they understand the profound significance of saying goodbye to a loved one, specializing in providing dignified sea burial services located in the serene regions of Nassau County and Queens, NY, with a commitment to compassion, professionalism, and respect. The company offers Pet Sea Burials Long Island, NY and surrounding areas, providing families with personalized memorial services that reflect their unique needs.
Eco-friendly sea burials also minimize environmental impact, aligning with the values of those committed to preserving nature, offering flexibility in personalization, allowing families to honor their loved ones in a unique and fitting way, providing a thoughtful and respectful way to honor the memory of the deceased.
Environmental Benefits and Eco-Friendly Options
The rising consumer eco-consciousness is stimulating the market, with pet owners increasingly opting for green burials, biodegradable urns, and water-based cremation methods like aquamation, as key players are introducing eco-friendly burial and cremation options. Choosing biodegradable urns aligns with broader environmental consciousness trends, helping reduce the environmental impact of traditional burials with benefits including biodegradable materials with no harmful residues and lower energy consumption than traditional methods.
Some companies sell biodegradable urns for land and sea burials, many made from the bark of the mulberry tree, which remains alive during the harvesting process. The Eco Water™ Urn for pets is all natural and biodegradable, floating upright like a buoy and dispersing your beloved pet’s ashes out of the bottom side of the urn while floating.
The Emotional and Practical Considerations
Pet funeral services provide a way for pet owners to commemorate and honor the lives of their beloved animal companions after they pass away, offering various options for pet owners to memorialize their pets and cope with the grief of losing a cherished family member, playing a valuable role in helping pet owners navigate the difficult process of saying goodbye and finding closure in their grief.
Compared to a traditional burial, a sea burial is less expensive, as burying a loved one on land is a lot more expensive, with sea burial being much less expensive because it can be an attended ocean funeral or an unattended one as per your specific preferences.
Looking Toward the Future
Over the past few years, cremation surpassed burial as the leading option of Americans and is expected to jump to 79% of the population by 2035 due to lower cremation cost and families that are less traditional, with a growing number of new and unique memorial options with cremated ashes now available to create unique and more personal memorial experiences.
As we continue to evolve in our understanding of the human-animal bond, the options for honoring our beloved pets will undoubtedly continue to expand. Whether through innovative technologies like aquamation, meaningful sea burial ceremonies, or other eco-friendly alternatives, the focus remains on providing pet parents with dignified, personalized ways to say goodbye to their cherished companions while respecting our shared environment.
The growing trend of pet sea burials and cremation alternatives reflects our deep commitment to treating our pets as the family members they truly are, ensuring their final journey is as meaningful and respectful as the love they brought to our lives.