Written by Rhianna Rees, Scottish Seaweed Industry Association
Scotland’s expansive coastline has a personality like no other. The white sandy beaches of Tiree, Lewis, and Harris rival that of any Mediterranean beach (unfortunately without the warm water). In parts of Caithness, the sand can occasionally and temporarily turn a purple colour, likely due to the presence of iron oxide and the erosion of Scotland’s old red sandstone.
Throughout the centuries, seaweed has been the most unexpected of protagonists, being used in ways you wouldn’t quite expect.
It has been used as food, fertiliser, feedstock, and a myriad of other things (including gynaecology!). Seaweed isn’t picky about where it grows - clinging to rocks, lounging in pools, and weaving vast underwater forests teeming with life. When stormy tempests rage, beach-cast seaweed generously offers itself as grazing ground. Brimming with minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, and iodine, seaweed packs a nutritional punch essential for human health. It’s the unsung hero of our oceans, long overlooked and underestimated. But, as tides turn, that might just be changing.
I stumbled upon the world of seaweed by chance. When I started my Master's program in Uppsala, I lacked a clear focus. I sought something that embodied hope, something sustainable, renewable, positive, and deeply rooted in history. At COP23, I fortuitously met a Swedish researcher, Fredrik Gröndahl, who told me, "If you want to focus your work on something sustainable, there is nothing more sustainable than seaweed... seaweed and insects." I wasn't too keen on insects, so seaweed it was.
This led me to an internship at KTH with Gröndahl, where I wrote my master’s thesis on the history of seaweed, aptly titled: “Seaweed is Sexy: The consumption and utilisation of seaweed throughout British history and the marketing that surrounds it.”
After completing my Master’s, I returned to the UK, determined to find a role in the burgeoning seaweed industry. However, graduate roles were hard to come by, especially with the onset of the COVID crisis. Desperate for employment, I applied for any job that matched my skills - in finance, business management, carbon accounting, you name it. Often, it's a person or a defining moment that helps you find your path again. For me, it was a job interview with a housing company in central London.
I turned up at the interview full of hope and expectation that I might finally get out of the graduate job application loop that I’d found myself stuck in for so many months. It started out well. The interviewer asked me about my degree, my experience, and my travel, but the conversation kept coming back to seaweed. So much so in fact that she interrupted me to say “I’ve never seen anyone light up the way you do when you talk about seaweed”. I laughed and said it was something I was passionate about. “It’s wonderful to be passionate about something”, she said and went on to ask me what I wanted to do with my life, what I really wanted to do with it. I replied “Well, I want to change the world, but doesn’t everyone?”. “No,” she said, “not everyone wants to change the world”.
There was a waver in the interview at that moment, “I think you would be good for this job. And, if you want to continue with the interview, I’ll take you to the next stage with a positive recommendation. But you wouldn’t be passionate about it, and this is a hard job. Be honest with yourself, do you really want this?”. Despite finally getting an interview with what looked like a real job prospect after so many months, I resigned myself. She was right. “I don’t want this” I agreed, and with that, the process stopped. From that point on, we began discussing career paths, companies, seaweed roles, and courses I could apply to. She gave me some helpful advice and sent me on my way. As I left the interview the final thing she said to me was “I can’t wait to see you change the world”. I wish she knew how pivotal she had been in that moment all those years ago.
I committed to applying only for roles that shared that ethos. Not long after that interview, I managed to secure a job at Mara Seaweed in Edinburgh, a company that sold seaweed as seasoning to help reduce salt intake and improve health. I enjoyed my time at Mara, but it was short-lived. Soon after I was offered a job at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) to coordinate the creation of the seaweed academy, the UK’s first seaweed training facility, in Oban, Scotland. This was a dream come true. For two years I worked with SAMS and helped train over 80 people through the seaweed academy, many of whom went on to work in the seaweed sector.
Now, I have a role within the Scottish Seaweed Industry Association (SSIA), helping to grow the sector, bring attention to seaweed as a sustainable resource, and alleviate the challenges associated with its expansion.
It's also my mission to continue to make seaweed sexy, to shed light on its remarkable history, and to champion its resurgence for a brighter future.
Now, I know what you're thinking - making seaweed sexy is about as likely as getting excited over a pile of wet rope. But bear with me.
A Sea of Opportunity
Before we dive into what seaweed can do, let's first look at what seaweed is. Seaweed, also known as macroalgae, is not your ordinary marine plant. With over 10,000 species in oceans worldwide, seaweed comes in various shapes, sizes, and colours, from the delicate leaves of sea lettuce to the robust fronds of brown kelp.
But what’s so good about seaweed? The answer lies in its inherent benefits - both to our health and the environment. Seaweed is a nutritional powerhouse, and a sea sponge, packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. From sushi rolls to superfood snacks, its culinary versatility knows no bounds. But beyond the dinner plate, seaweed holds a key to a sustainable future.
Unravelling the Mysteries of Seaweed
Despite the recent interest in seaweed, seaweed is, fundamentally, not a sexy thing. We often think of it rotting on our beaches, and in some parts of the UK we pay up to £75,000 a year to have it removed [1].
While it may not be attractive to the tourism industry, even beach-cast seaweed plays a vital role in our circular ecosystem. Only now, when we are using terms like ‘biodiversity net gain’ (improving biodiversity through operations), ‘ecosystem services’ (maintaining the circularity of nutrients and healthy ecosystems) and ‘regenerative ocean farming’ (regenerating degraded land/ocean areas through farming activities), can we begin to understand the multitude of benefits that seaweed, and an industry based around seaweed, can provide.
Because seaweed absorbs everything in its surroundings, it is able to mitigate some of the most catastrophic human impacts on the marine ecosystem. This includes the absorption of agricultural runoff, which contains harmful nutrients like Nitrogen and Phosphorus that can lead to eutrophication and dead zones in coastal waters. By absorbing these excess nutrients, seaweed not only prevents water pollution but also promotes a healthier and more balanced marine environment.
Furthermore, seaweed goes about its business hoovering up carbon dioxide with all the quiet efficiency of a librarian with a really good book.
In doing so, it keeps the oceans from turning into something that could pickle a fish faster than you could say "climate change." Not only that, seaweed also has a knack for filtering out heavy metals and other potentially nasty bits. Through these industrious and rather unglamorous efforts, seaweed farming emerges as a thoroughly sensible and sustainable answer to some of the more pressing problems faced by our oceans.
Rediscovering Seaweed: A Journey Through Time
Seaweed might seem like the latest new and exciting industry, but in truth, its résumé goes back centuries. Long before it became the star of smoothie additives and plastic-free alternatives, seaweed was hard at work as a humble fertiliser. Take the old 'lazy bed' farming method, for example. Back in the day, particularly in the rocky hills where farming was a hard graft, ingenious farmers dug channels and lined them with seaweed [2]. Then, they'd plant their crops on top, allowing the plants to feast on the rich nutrients. This wasn't just some quirky local trick either - it was all the rage in 1700s Scotland and, believe it or not, it's still in practice today.
Coastal communities in the British Isles have revered seaweed for its myriad uses, from fertilising crops to healing wounds. In the ‘kelp boom’ of the 18th century, the Scottish coastline was teeming with seaweed harvesters, who painstakingly gathered ‘black wrack’ seaweeds and kelp for industrial purposes, including glassmaking and soap production [3].
In fact, there are many accounts of various species of seaweed being used for traditional medicinal purposes, including iodine extraction, wound dressing, cold compresses, digestion, replenishment after fasting, teething comforters, treatment for rheumatism and arthritis, skin conditions, and records of pieces of the stipe (stem) of kelp being employed to keep wounds open during surgery (and also to keep the cervix open in gynaecology) [4].
Over time, with the advent of synthetic alternatives and the decline of traditional industries, seaweed fell out of favour, relegated to the realms of folklore and ancient wisdom. Fast forward to the 21st century, seaweed is experiencing a renaissance like never before. In the wake of climate change and the quest for sustainability, seaweed emerges as a beacon of hope - a natural solution to our modern-day challenges.
Technological Advancements: Cultivating the Future of Seaweed
What we, as a sector, are striving for is nothing short of a seaweed revolution [6]. Take, for instance, the intrepid folks at Kaly and South West Mull and Iona Development who are leading the charge with sustainable, efficient cultivation methods. They aim to have both a positive environmental impact on the surrounding ocean and maximise their biomass yields.
But cultivation is merely the opening chapter. With the aid of cutting-edge processing technologies, Oceanium and Atlantic Mariculture are looking at valorisation of the biomass, through the utilisation of biorefineries and research into practical end uses. Imagine nutraceutical supplements packed with health-boosting magic, or strawberries that can grow larger than normal. Through a blend of collaboration and investment in research and development, we are unlocking the full potential of seaweed.
Navigating the Blue Economy Ahead
Here, at what feels like the start of a strong blue economy, I find myself brimming with optimism for the future of seaweed and our oceans. From its modest origins to its grand revival in this age of sustainability, seaweed stands as a testament to resilience, adaptability, and boundless potential. It's as if seaweed itself is cheerfully waving us forward, encouraging us to forge a path towards a more sustainable and resilient future, not just for ourselves, but for generations yet to come.
References
[2] Shetterly, S. H. (2018). Seaweed Chronicles: A World at the Water’s Edge. Algonquin Books.
[3] Kenicer, G., Bridgewater, S., & Milliken, W. (2000). The ebb and flow of Scottish seaweed use. Botanical Journal of Scotland, 52(2), 119-148.
[4] Forsythe, W. (2006) ‘The Archaeology of the Kelp Industry in the Northern Islands of Ireland’, The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 35(2), pp. 218–229
[5] The Seaweed Revolution: How Seaweed Has Shaped Our Past and Can Save Our Future: Amazon.co.uk: Doumeizel, Vincent, Coombe, Charlotte: 9781915643858: Books
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