We need help on kelp
Boffins hit by sea ban
An Ay r - b a s e d company wanting to harvest kelp off the west coast of Scotland have said the decision to prevent such operations “lacks natural justice”.
Marine Biopolymers Ltd ( MBL) have been at the centre of a controversial plan to extract six different components from a seaweed known as Laminaria Hyperborea.
This is a key component of over- the- counter gastric medicines such as Gaviscon.
But last week, MSPs a g reed on tight e r restrictions on certain species of seaweed following a petition that received almost 25,000 signatures against MBL proposals.
Speaking to the Post, founders of MBL’s David Mackie and Douglas Macinnes said that the decision to “arbitrarily ban” the type of seaweed harvesting they want to do, has left them “hamstrung”.
Mr Mackie explained: “We progressed this year towards getting a harvesting licence for our seaweed and submitted a scoping report to Marine Scotland and this was then put out on their website and with social media, all hell broke loose.
“This internet campaign was set up against us, claiming that we would destroy the planet and the marine environment and that we would cause flooding of coastal communities because of what we wanted to do. We were told that we were going to kill Scotland’s equivalent to the Great Barrier Reef.
“Given that there is 20 million tonnes of this seaweed in Scottish waters and nature, through storms, harvests four million of that - our plan was to harvest just 33,000 tonnes or 0.15 per cent of the total stock.”
Mr Mackie added that they, as a company, are not in a “good place”.
The firm is based in Heathfield and hires in expert consultants.
He said: “We are hamstrung in the context of this review taking place.
“Our investor was watching the televised debate which they were not impressed with. This has caused us serious questions to be asked and answered.
“We are not in a good place.
“We are trying to carry on but the issue is that not only us but potentially the renaissance of a valuable seaweed sector in Scotland containing businesses like us, which focus on very high value human use products - the whole thing is jeopardised.
“We are now faced with choices of what do we do.
“The problem for us as part of this, the parliament arbitrarily banned the type of seaweed harvesting we wanted to do.”
“We will be having further discussions at a Scottish Government level to understand why they have chosen this path. It is fundamentally unsound and lacks natural justice.”
John Scott MSP who was at the meeting when the bill was discussed in parliament, added: “Striking the right balance between the promotion of sustainable development and the need for rigorous environmental protection is what must be achieved.
“That’s why I am urging the Scottish Government to look at introducing a licencing regime which recognises sustainable development and will continue to monitor this matter closely.”