Seaweeds are torn from the sea bed and end up in piles on the beach when the sea in Seychelles is rough especially in the south east monsoon |
A new factory on
Praslin, the second-most populated island in Seychelles, is launching a
new and innovative way to manage and make better use of seaweed: turning
it into agricultural fertiliser.
Bernard Port-Louis told SNA that the business, called 'Seaweed Seychelles,' is the brainchild of his son Benjamin.
"He is currently in
his final year at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia and
has always believed in the sustainable development of our islands. So we
have decided to develop the factory," Port-Louis said.
"This new seaweed
harvesting business will be collecting washed up seaweed, and processing
it to extract the organic matter in liquid form," he said, adding that
seaweed will be collected from the inner islands.
Seaweeds are
aquatic plants that live attached to rock or other hard substance in
coastal areas, and the most common type found on the Seychelles beaches
is ocean algae "sargassum" along with the sea grass. This happens on a
large-scale during the south-east monsoon -- May to October -- when the
sea is rough, and the algae are torn from the seabed and end up in piles
on the beach.
The seaweed is not
only an eyesore but is smelly and attracts flies which pose as a
nuisance for people, especially beach visitors. In some areas where this
problem is severe locals are contracted to clean and dispose of the
seaweed.
The new factory,
located on the man-made Eve island of Praslin, is near completion and
Port-Louis said it is expected to be operational in two months.
Seaweed Seychelles
will produce up to 8,000 litres of seaweed liquid per day, and according
to Port-Louis, this will be sold to farmers as fertiliser.
Port-Louis said:
"Once the liquid is extracted, the solid leftovers of the algae will be
grounded to powder to produce soil conditioner, to ensure that there is
no waste and all by products are fully utilised."
This new venture
has been endorsed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation which is the federal government agency for scientific
research in Australia.
The factory will be
using green energy for all its operations and installed a solar hot
water system that can produce 4000 litres of hot water and a 12-kilowatt
photovoltaic solar system to produce electricity for the daily running
operation.
According to an
article in the 12th edition of the Saint Ange tourism report, "the
accumulation of seaweed on some of the beaches (on Praslin) has become a
serious issue, posing a great challenge for hoteliers who have been
trying to market Seychelles as having white sandy beaches, and crystal
clear waters."
Seaweed harvesting
for processing is new in the Seychelles' archipelago in the western
Indian Ocean. The region, on the other hand, is known for seaweed
farming, where this practice is common in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Madagascar
and Mauritius.
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