From Historic England to local fishermen, it's been a resounding 'no' to plans for two giant seaweed farms to be erected in a pristine bay in north Cornwall.
Residents in Port Quin, near Port Isaac, backed by Cornwall-loving celebrities such as Doc Martin actor Martin Clunes and Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln, have been fighting against plans by Biome Algae along with Camel Fish Limited to install two seaweed farms the size of 140 football pitches in Port Quin Bay for more than a year.
The original application filed in July 2023 with the Maritime Management Organisation ( MLA/2023/00308 and 00307) did not receive any objection, which campaigners in the area said was due to no-one locally knowing about it. However, when the community was made aware they rallied around and more than 712 representations were made with 94.9 per cent in opposition to the proposal.
In view of this, the MMO told the applicants to come back with improved plans or their applications would be turned down. Now Biome Algae and Camel Fish Limited have done just that with a mammoth 624 page document.
In their application the seaweed farms, if built, would have "a strong role in providing local employment, education, careers, supporting local businesses as service/equipment providers or supplying them with farmed seaweed and seaweed-derived products".
If built the two seaweed farms would see 144 160-metre longlines deployed in the bay during September over two to three years, with seeded lines being installed in October and early November each year. Harvesting would take place in April or May the following year. In addition, more than 1,720 buoys with marker lights on at night would be installed. Opponents fear the £5.8m scheme could put lives at risk if built.
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Local residents and opponents to the scheme have had to wade through the new application and come back with an appropriate evidence-based response.
Barnaby Kay, chairman of the Two Bays Trust and director of the Save Our Bays CIC and Cleaner Seas Project CIC campaign groups, said a whole raft of organisations have now come out to express their opposition to the scheme.
In their submission to the MMO, Natural England said: "We advise that the proposal in its current form has the potential to damage the interest features for which the site has been notified. Increased human activity in close proximity to the SSSI could disturb birds going to and from foraging grounds and the numbers of birds loafing and prospecting colonies. Increased lighting has the potential to impact fledglings and could also deter adults."
They added: "Grey seals, especially juveniles, can be inquisitive and may choose to interact with the seaweed farm infrastructure. Entanglement rates of up to five per cent have previously been recorded at a seal haul-out site in Cornwall, with 64 per cent of entangled seals suffering serious injuries. Any loss of ropes, or movement of infrastructure could result in entanglement of grey seals and possible injury."
The Environment Agency also objected, adding: “In the absence of acceptable assessment, we object to the marine works as submitted and recommend refusal of a marine licence on this basis." The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) added: "How can fisheries co-locate with the development when the applicant has stated clearly and often throughout the document that fisheries will be excluded from the site? This statement is disingenuous and untrue."
Trinity House, a charity dedicated to safeguarding shipping and seafarers, also waded in, adding: "We consider that the whole site would comprise a hazard to navigation."
Mr Kay told CornwallLive said that despite the tremendous efforts by the community to mount a viable and sound argument as to why the seaweed farms would be bad for Port Quin, he fears the MMO's decision is too close to call and could go either way.
He said: "Since the applicants submitted their proposals to the Marine Management Organisation in July 2023, seven months before the community became aware of them, one of the main hurdles has been that the MMO, and in some cases their primary advisers, have used the applications themselves as the source documents when assessing the viability of these seaweed farms. As a result, the repetition of false and misleading information in the applications has led to confirmation bias, and made opposition significantly more challenging.
"We have spent months presenting the MMO, their primary and statutory advisors, MPs and the press with the evidence and research we have compiled which proves beyond doubt that these particular large-scale farms, and other similar farm proposals in the South West, at Port Isaac and Combe Martin, for example, are not suitable, sensible or sustainable, and that the spurious claims of carbon sequestration, biodiversity gains, positive environmental impact, job creation, economic growth, climate change mitigation etc are exaggerated or simply false.
"The question now is, do the MMO listen to the quango they contracted to report on the application document, or to their advisers and the coastal community most affected by the proposals? I believe that a decision is imminent, but, after all we have experienced whilst dealing with the MMO, and despite the mountains of evidence we have presented, I really couldn’t call it either way."
The applications can be accessed at https://marinelicensing.marinemanagement.org.uk/mmofox5/fox/live/MMO_PUBLIC_REGISTER by entering the application numbers MLA/2023/00308 and MLA/2023/00307 in the search bar. To read the 620-page application and comments from the various stakeholders, visit: Save Our Bays.
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