Welsh seaweed farm to go ahead
6th May 2022
Câr-Y-Môr, or ‘For the Love of the Sea’, a community society set up in 2019, has signed a 25-year lease with the Crown Estate for a three-hectare seaweed farm in Ramsey Sound, on the western tip of Pembrokeshire, with plans to produce a mixture of seaweed, native oysters, scallops and mussels, reports Andy Read.
Funded through a variety of local partners, and with additional support from WWF, the project hopes to inspire a host of similar enterprises across the Welsh coastline, creating sustainable, low-impact employment. Each small-scale site will be supported by regional hatcheries that will also provide support with processing and value addition, creating the critical mass needed for such small-scale ventures to compete nationally.
The farm is part of a wider project that includes a processing facility in St Davids that will sell local seafood for retail and wholesale. There will also be a small production facility in the city for medicinal, cosmetic and related products derived from the four species of seaweed that the project has licences to farm.
“We are delighted to receive the licence, which gives a community benefit society the unique opportunity to start the first commercial scale seaweed and shellfish farm in Wales,” said Câr-Y-Môr’s Owen Haines.
“It has been a privilege to see about 40 volunteer members and supporters all work together over the last two years to achieve this licence and the crown licence.
“This could have not been achieved without each of these individual’s commitment, skills and expertise. It’s been a humbling experience to be part of.”
This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.30 here.
