A west Cork-based environmental group has said it is “utterly disappointed” with Minister for Housing Damien English for failing to consult it before signing off on mechanical harvesting of seaweed in Bantry Bay.
The Minister’s decision to sanction the first approval for kelp harvesting by mechanical means will impact on kelp stocks around the coast, the Bantry Bay – Protect our Native Kelp Forest group has warned.
However, the Kerry company BioAtlantis, which has secured the licence to harvest kelp, has strongly rejected charges that any of its operations will affect the bay.
Rejecting criticism of its operations and the claims that 50 local jobs could be lost, BioAtlantis chief executive John T O’Sullivan said kelp has been mechanically harvested in France and Norway since the early 1970s.
Source: Irish Times
