Galway Bay fm newsroom – A trial of new methods of harvesting seaweed is expected to begin in Connemara in the coming weeks.
Two boats are being brought over from Canada by Acadian Sea Plants, the company that now owns the ArramaraTeoranta seaweed company, in order to show the harvesting methods used in Nova Scotia.
The ArramaraTeoranta seaweed industry has been operating in Connemara for almost seventy years.
It is now owned by the Canadian company, Acadian Sea Plants, and they want to try out new ways of harvesting seaweed.
Two boats of the type used in Nova Scotia are being brought to Connemara so that those who cut seaweed can see how they would work here.
The rugged nature of the Connemara seashore could be a hindrance in some places but it is suggested that the Canadian method would cut out a lot of the heavy work from seaweed harvesting.
However, concerns have been expressed by some of those who want to maintain traditionally observed seaweed rights in coastal townlands; it is being claimed that the boats method could open the way for more intensive harvesting with local people losing out.
Sources in Acadian Sea Plants say this is not so and that it is worth giving the new method a trial so people can see for themselves.