IT HAS been used as a fertiliser, in ice cream, to feed racing camels in Dubai and even build a plane.
Now an Ayr-based company has proposed harvesting tonnes of wild kelp in commercial operations on Scotland’s west coast.
Marine Biopolymers Ltd (MBL) would extract natural polymers from the seaweed for uses in foods and pharmaceuticals.
It has published a scoping report as part of its work towards applying for one or more five-year licences.
Under the plan, the amount harvested would rise over the years from about 1,300 to 30,000 tonnes wet weight.
The kelp would be processed at a plant in Mallaig in the west Highlands.
In the report, the company said it would avoid sensitive marine environments, and areas of seabed would not be re-harvested within a given time period to allow the seaweed to recover.
“Although, at-sea harvesting of Laminaria hyperborea would be a new industry in Scotland, such harvesting has been carried out sustainably for many decades in Norway, France and Iceland,” the company said.
“The kelp would be harvested by specially designed harvesting vessels, using proven technology from Norway, and subsequently transported by boat to MBL’s proposed processing plant at Mallaig. A separate planning application is being submitted to Highland Council for the construction and operation of this plant.”
In 2014 MBL scrapped a plan to open a £20m seaweed processing plant on South Uist. The project could have created up to 60 jobs. The company switched its focus to the mainland.
Earlier this year it was announced that seaweed has found another use – in paint.
Isle of Skye businessman Alasdair Campbell set about researching sustainable materials to use in paint.
The experienced painter and decorator is now marketing a designer range of 32 colours, infused with the marine algae and inspired by the island’s dramatic landscape.
The venture began when Mr Campbell, who has run his own business on Skye for more than 20 years, started looking for local ingredients that could be added to masonry paint to toughen it up to withstand the harsh local climate.
He had hoped to use crushed Skye marble, but found that the lime content of the stone, which has been quarried on the island for centuries, was too high.
“From the main natural ingredients that are readily available here, that left midges, rain and seaweed,” said Mr Campbell, who, with his wife, Carol, runs the Isle of Skye Paint Company from their shop in Portree.
Continuing research showed seaweed, which is commonly used in marine paints, but not in household or masonry ranges, works well as a natural thickening agent, so Mr Campbell decided to use it in his new products.
The range currently uses seaweed from elsewhere in the UK, but Mr Campbell and another firm are trying to find a way of incorporating locally sourced algae.
And it is not the only unusual use for seaweed.
A seaweed processing factory in the Outer Hebrides supplies the product to feed top racing camels in Dubai.
Uist Asco ships tons of dried seaweed 3,800 miles to fuel the prize camels – which can be worth as much as thoroughbred racehorses. There are around 378,000 camels in the United Arab Emirates.
Many isolated Scottish islands still have the remains of kelpers’ huts from the times when seaweed was burned to extract potash and soda.
Soda and potash were important chemicals in the soap and glass industry and were widely used for linen bleaching. The extraction process involved burning the kelp in large, often stone-lined trenches.
Meanwhile, from making sure a pint of beer keeps its head to growing healthy plants, seaweed has many uses in today’s world.
In the food industry alginates serve to stabilise meringues and ice cream, improve the head on beer and allow fast-setting in puddings.
They also perform similar roles in the cosmetic, medical, paint and other industries.
A single ‘seaweed’ De Havilland Mosquito was flown. Unfortunately, the material proved unsuitable and the company turned its hand to more conventional uses.
Although landlords could make a lot of money – at one time the industry was worth the equivalent of seven and a half million pounds a year to the Hebrides alone – very little of this ever found its way to the workers.
The economy of these peripheral communities was hit hard by the loss of the industry, and a considerable depression ensued. Attempts were made to revive the industry during the First World War but largely failed.
Now growing seaweed companies exist in Lewis and Uist and other areas of Scotland.
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