About

Many seaweed species, including some of the world’s most ecologically important kelps, are under increasing threat. Climate change is warming ocean waters at a rate that far outpaces the natural ability of marine ecosystems to adapt. Combined with rising pollution levels, coastal development, invasive species, and other human-driven pressures, these changes are causing significant declines in wild seaweed populations worldwide. In some places, entire underwater forests have disappeared within a generation.

At the same time, there is growing global recognition of the extraordinary value of seaweeds for addressing critical environmental and societal challenges. From supporting biodiversity and stabilizing shorelines to capturing carbon, cleaning polluted waters, and replacing synthetic agricultural inputs, seaweeds offer scalable and nature-based solutions. Their potential applications range from sustainable food and packaging to regenerative farming, blue carbon initiatives, and climate adaptation strategies.

Kelp Ark was created to respond to both the threats and the opportunities surrounding seaweed today. Our mission is to secure the future of seaweed biodiversity through the creation of a comprehensive and carefully curated seaweed seed bank. We are preserving genetically diverse strains of key seaweed species, with an initial focus on brown macroalgae, particularly giant kelp and other canopy-forming species native to the eastern Pacific. We also bank associated microbial communities, which play critical roles in seaweed health, development, and ecological function.

Our seed bank functions as a living library—a long-term safeguard against species loss, genetic bottlenecks, and environmental collapse. By securing this biodiversity now, we are creating options for the future: options for restoring degraded ecosystems, cultivating climate-resilient seaweeds for farming, and enabling breakthrough research in marine science, biotechnology, and conservation.

But Kelp Ark is more than just a repository. We are building an open and accessible platform that serves researchers, educators, restoration groups, community stewards, Indigenous practitioners, and seaweed growers. One of our core commitments is to ensure that our seed stocks are available in a fair, transparent, and responsible way. We want to lower the barriers to entry for small-scale farmers, ensure local restoration efforts have access to appropriate and healthy strains, and support partnerships that center community benefit and ecological health.

As of 2025, Kelp Ark has successfully banked over 2,600 genetically distinct strains from 12 kelp species, collected across key sites along the Pacific Coast. This foundational work has been supported by early philanthropic investments, including a major multi-year commitment from the Grantham Environmental Fund. We are in the process of building a state-of-the-art biobanking facility in San Pedro, California, which will serve as a regional hub for kelp biodiversity, marine research, and public engagement on the AltaSea campus.

We are proud to collaborate with leading academic institutions, environmental NGOs, ocean advocates, and local industry. Our work complements a growing movement to safeguard marine biodiversity through both in situ (in the wild) and ex situ (in controlled environments) conservation.