Islanders oppose kelp plan

Islanders on Tiree and Coll are objecting to plans to harvest sea kelp from west coast waters.

Ayr-based Marine Biopolymers Ltd (MBL) is applying to the Scottish Government for a five-year licence to ‘sustainably harvest wild kelp’, or Laminaria hyperborea, to extract natural polymers for uses in foods and pharmaceuticals, in seas inside the Western Isles from the Firth of Lorn to Stornoway.

MBL hopes to harvest up to 1,300 tonnes in wet weight the first year, rising to 29,800 tonnes in year five, the minimum required per year to be commercially viable. It also needs to yield at least 5kg per square metre, and these densities only occur close to shore.

It would leave ‘over 99 per cent’ of the ‘abundant’ species, estimated to be 19.7 million tonnes. ‘In any given year, the area that would require harvesting to provide 30,000 tonnes wet weight would be around 20km squared. Such an area is equivalent to the footprint of seabed trawled by a single large scallop dredger over one month.’

Kelp would be harvested year-round by purpose-built vessels, which would ‘trawl’ a ‘comb-like’ head through the beds half a metre above the rocks, in an effort to avoid harvesting juvenile plants. ‘No harvest block will be re-harvested for a period of around five years to allow for full recovery of the kelp resource.’

Coll Community Council convener Paula Smalley said up to 50 people on the 200-strong island had raised concerns so far. ‘Sea kelp is our natural line of defence against storm waves,’ she said. ‘It is proven to reduce wave height by 30 to 40 per cent. Kelp forest provides food and shelter for all sorts of marine species. This is like a floating version of a JCB. There will not be any discrimination between species. We do not know how long it will take to regrow. There have not been adequate studies.

‘We do not have a problem with hand harvesting sea kelp, because that is sustainable. We are planning a public meeting at the beginning of next month.’

Dr John Holliday, convener of Tiree Community Council, added: ‘The island is surrounded by some of the largest kelp forests in Scottish waters. At the same time, Tiree’s sandy beaches are vulnerable to erosion. The community council has won an extension until September 15 to reply to Marine Scotland.’