Fears for seabed sink kelp dredging

WILD kelp dredging is to be banned in Scotland after claims it amounts to ‘environmental vandalism’.

A firm had wanted to trawl the seabed off the West Coast to collect the lucrative seaweed, which is used in food and pharmaceuticals.

But the application by Ayr-based Marine Biopolymers sparked a backlash amid fears that it could damage the seabed and harm fish and shellfish.

More than 14,000 people signed a petition started by Ullapool oyster farmer Ailsa McLellan. Marine Biopolymers’s proposal involved a reported 30,000 tons of the seaweed being gathered each year by specially adapted boats.

But yesterday Holyrood’s environment, climate change and land reform committee backed an amendment from Green MSP Mark Ruskell to block the proposal.

Miss McLellan hailed the decision ‘an enormous landmark’.

Charles Millar, Scottish Inshore Fisheries Trust executive director and founder of Help the Kelp, said the vote will require all harvesting of the seaweed in Scottish waters to follow the rule of hand-harvesters – that the plant must be allowed to regrow.

Mr Ruskell said: ‘This amendment is an important step forward in protecting our unique and fragile seaweed.’

An open letter to Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham and the members of the committee had stated: ‘Allowing this current – or any future – application to dredge wild kelp in Scotland’s inshore waters would not only be environmental vandalism, but would impede the abilities of our coastal communities to continue to sustain themselves.’