September 2024 Edition
A monthly round-up of news and trends important to the AltaSea community.
AltaSea Community Spotlight
This year, AltaSea’s summer intern cohort included students from community colleges and universities across California.
Some of the students, like Sophia Fairclough, are Port of Los Angeles locals. Fairclough learned about AltaSea several years ago, while she was a student at San Pedro High School—a public high school near the AltaSea campus.
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A heatwave here, a harrowing study there; on the surface, it might appear as if the climate’s rapid decline has been accepted as the new norm. But underneath, things are shifting.
AltaSea’s partner Captura was highlighted in this article for its work in innovative carbon capture methods.
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In this episode, James breaks down the massive problems with current commodity seafood systems, how Seatopia is pioneering aquaculture 3.0, and why integrated multi-trophic aquaculture in the ocean is the same thing as regenerative agriculture on the land.
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RCAM Technologies has evolved into “Sperra,” a name that comes from the Latin words meaning “hope” and “earth.” The company will continue with its mission to be at the forefront of “revolutionizing the marine renewable energy industry” with its 3D concrete printing technology.
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Are you ready to dive into the future with us? Join our wave of change and be a part of the oceanic transformation that will sustain generations to come. Together, we can turn the tide towards a more sustainable, just, and equitable world.
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AltaSea Events
- 10th Anniversary of AltaSea
- Opened in 2024 the fully remodeled Berth 58 (Mayor of LA attended along with several major officials)
- Official opening of Lands End, Berth 60, the furthest West point at AltaSea with majestic sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean (hosting Blue Hour here)
Marine Science
In a paper published in Frontiers in Marine Science, the team describes how it attached video cameras to the backs of eight Australian sea lions to help map thousands of square kilometers of seafloor habitat, up to 110 meters down. The research is one of a growing number of projects that rely on animals, from penguins to sharks, to collect scientific data.
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Plans to build hundreds or even thousands of offshore wind turbines off the U.S. East Coast “will be the biggest change to the sea floor in the area since the last Ice Age ended about 14,000 years ago,” according to scientists.
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Sleek, torpedo-shaped Seagliders developed at the University of Washington can operate at sea for months at a time, navigating thousands of miles across powerful boundary currents and through eddies in the roughest of seas.
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Marine phytoplankton live in the upper-ocean layer and therefore are directly affected by changes in sunlight and temperature. However, an ocean layer below the surface called the “twilight zone” (where light is unavailable) can also affect surface-dwelling phytoplankton.
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Sustainable and Innovative Business
The United States, one of the world’s biggest plastic makers, will support a global treaty calling for a reduction in how much new plastic is produced each year in a major policy shift. The change away from its earlier calls to leave such decisions up to each country puts the U.S. in direct opposition to countries like Saudi Arabia and China.
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After six years of development at X, the moonshot factory – a project of Google parent company Alphabet – Tidal is launching as a standalone company, with the backing of prominent investment firms tied to salmon aquaculture
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The policy, developed with significant input from the Aquatic Life Institute, acknowledges crustaceans as sentient beings and addresses their welfare during farming, transport, and slaughter across Hilton’s supply chain. This new policy represents a notable advancement in the seafood sector and is expected to influence industry practices.
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The state recently hit a milestone: 100 days this year with 100% carbon-free, renewable electricity for at least a part of each day, as tracked by Stanford University engineering Professor Mark Z. Jacobson. … (However, the) state faces a huge challenge in coming years: A series of mandates will require carbon-free energy while also putting more electric cars on roads and electric appliances in homes.
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Education
A construction project at San Pedro High School has revealed a treasure trove of marine fossils from L.A.’s prehistoric past.
The most ancient fossils in the collection are thought to be as many as 9 million years old and date to a time when the Palos Verdes Peninsula was covered by ocean.
Scientists are still identifying new species in the tons of material excavated from the site, but have already unearthed pieces of a saber-toothed salmon, sea turtles, whales, dolphins, clams, birds and teeth from the largest shark to ever live.
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The fish was transported to the NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla. On Aug. 16, a team of scientists from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California State University Fullerton, and NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center were able to examine the rare short-crested oarfish.
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At USC, learning about sustainability doesn’t always begin in a classroom. Elisabeth Arnold Weiss, associate professor of technical communication practice at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, created the ATLAS Project (Advancing Technology Leadership and Access through Service) as a way of involving students in learning projects that address important sustainability and social impact issues while also making a positive difference in the local community.
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While the impact of anthropogenic carbon dioxide on the open oceans has been extensively studied, there has been limited observational data on its presence and sources in coastal oceans, the broad range of saltwater ecosystems, from estuaries to coral reefs, that link the land and sea.