The eThekwini Municipality has announced its ambitious plans to mimic successful international programmes related to the ocean industry, particularly that of Los Angeles in the US.
Municipality spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said this follows a fruitful discussion between the City delegation, led by Economic Development and Planning Committee chairperson, Councillor Thembo Ntuli, and the AltaSea team in the Port of LA.
“The delegation in USA includes City Manager Musa Mbhele and Head of Catalytic Projects in the City and Acting Chief Operations Officer George Mohlakoana.
“AltaSea brings together the world’s finest climate and marine scientists and engineers to conduct breakthrough research and discover solutions to food and energy supply, climate change, and ocean exploration,” Sisilana said.
Terry Tamminen, president and chief executive of AltaSea, said that the company’s primary focus is on investing in economic activity that attempts to use ocean resources sustainably in order to promote ocean ecosystem health, facilitate economic growth, create jobs, and improve livelihoods.
“Representatives from the City of Durban are here because we think it has much in common with what we are doing. AltaSea is a non-profit organisation that was established to take over a 35 acre campus in the Port of Los Angeles’ old historic warehouse and renovate them into a modern blue economy campus.
“So, the blue economy encompasses aquaculture, both on land and at sea, including renewable energy from the ocean, underwater robotics and anything that has to do with the ocean. We are hoping that we can create a similar AltaSea facility in Durban, and even in the port of Durban, where we can share what we know through our researchers and our companies,” he said.
City manager Musa Mbhele claimed that emulating the AltaSea project will propel the City of Durban’s growth trajectory to new heights.
“We had a very successful engagement at the Port of Los Angeles and met the president of AtlaSea, a company that runs an incubator programme for business that are linked to the blue ocean economy.
“They shared with us a number of opportunities for developing small businesses and have shown keen interest to help various role players in Durban to participate meaningfully in the blue economy. They have also promised that they will support the city in applying for funding from the Bloomberg Philanthrophic fund to support the ideas that we have for our city,” said Mbhele.
Sisilana added that the engagements with the AltaSea team, as well as the destination promotion activations currently under way in Los Angeles, are part of the City’s aggressive drive to grow the economy and attract international investors to the Resurgence Conference, which will be held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (Durban ICC) from July 17 to 21, 2024.
IOL