The aim of “Backyard Buoys” is for Indigenous and other coastal communities to collect and use ocean data to support their blue economy: maritime activities, food security, and coastal hazard protection. These communities have been substantially underserved and climate change is making predictability even harder. To serve the desire for autonomy, our innovations include a sustainable process for community-led stewardship of affordable ocean buoys and mobile and web-based applications (apps) that render data easy to understand and bridge to Indigenous knowledge.