Seaweed - a possible solution?

Monday 18 July 2016

It’s green, smelly and yet has a reputation as a super food, but there is nothing ‘super’ about Jersey’s lime-coloured beach.

The Island has had a seaweed problem at St Aubin for many years, but now there could be a solution - only it would cost as much as £500,000 to clean up the coast.

Transport Minister Eddie Noel is heading out to France today on a fact-finding trip to see how they deal with the issue in Brittany, using a giant five-metre wide machine which ‘eats’ the seaweed. 

Deputy Noel accepts that tourists are being scared off by Jersey’s green beaches, as the sea lettuce continues to infest even the prettiest bays. 

“I’ll be in France for a couple of days looking at the machine, which resembles a giant combine harvester,” said Deputy Noel.

“It takes the seaweed out of the water and can process it afterwards for use in things like animal feed. Seaweed is very useful and can be used for many products, but I am not alone in thinking it makes our beaches look pretty awful. 

“The difficulty is that a machine like that costs £500,000, which in anyone’s language is a very expensive piece of kit.

“I’m heading over to France with the Environment Minister with an open mind because maybe there is a possibility we could hire the machine out. I don’t know. There are possibilities. Obviously spending half a million pounds just to deal with seaweed is a lot of money, but this is something which is making our beaches look poor and as a tourism resort we have to be mindful of that.”

Deputy Noel will spend two days on the north and west coasts of Brittany and will prepare a feasibility study on his return. 

“I think we would all agree that the amount of seaweed on our beeches is a problem, but is it a £500,000 problem? Again, I don’t know, but there may be an answer which is a cheaper alternative. 

“It is not a problem which is unique to Jersey as I know they have problems with seaweed from as far away as China, New Zealand, the southern coast of Ireland and Florida.”