Port of LA's AltaSea opens 2 'aquaculture' labs to study ocean and help combat climate change

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- At AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles, tanks with seaweed growing inside could change the world.

"We've profoundly damaged the ocean, our home, making it a dumping ground for plastic and oil and so much carbon pollution that we've changed the PH, the very chemistry of the ocean," Terry Tamminen, the CEO of AltaSea. "We must reverse those trends in our oceans and AltaSea is the best place to discover and scale up those solutions to the challenges"

"We are all going to have to leave our politics and our prejudices at the dock and work together," Tamminen added.

On Monday at AltaSea, the 35-acre ocean research campus at the Port of L.A., focused on solving problems like climate change and food security, opened two aquaculture lab's.

Seaweeds and mollusks are grown and studied in an effort to save the planet.

"Global warming has already wiped out a very sobering 50 percent of the kelp, so you're going to bring it, and help us bring it back," said USC President Carol Folt.

Our current food production is vulnerable to climate change, and kelp has a multitude of sustainability powers including preventing greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.

The facility will be a place of collaboration between private companies and local high schools and colleges.

"Together we believe AltaSea is the engine of innovation that will help save our planet," said Melanie Lundquist, a philanthropist who has donated to AltaSea. "AltaSea is where sustainability meets the ocean and the blue economy creating careers for our young people."