The politics of Clew Bay seaweed may come down to money in the end
THE finest of folks came to Newport on a mission.
An ambitious Kerry businessman, John T. O'Sullivan, wasn't solely content in contesting a debate with Aontú's Paul Lawless on Midwest Radio, but he also entered the lion's den in Brannan's Bar to meet with concerned seaweed harvesters in Clew Bay.
O'Sullivan's company, BioAtlantis Ltd., has lodged an application for a licence for seaweed harvesting along Mayo’s scenic west Mayo coast.
His application is viewed as being ahead of the curve. In this business since 2004, Mr. O’Sullivan is aware of the impending legislation requiring a licence for seaweed harvesting from 2028.
Still, he was keen to point out he was not the ‘Bull McCabe’ and referenced spotting a poster from the film in the hotel in Mayo.
He clarified that's not who he was or what he was up to; he is merely in Mayo to find an avenue to help his business, all within the regulations.
Over the two hours of debate and questions and answers there were no shouts of “Go home Kerry man” either.
His company, he told the packed function room, is currently importing "weed", as he called it, from Norway and Iceland. It makes much more sense then to obtain a licence along Clew Bay and pay local harvesters for their produce.
It's a plan to help his business, work for a profit and provide a sense of sustainability for its future.
Mayo was the ideal launching pad for it, with abundant resources and an inevitable switch in 2028 for all harvesters to be legitimised and licenced under MARA regulations, involving a marine usage licence.
His company, on their website, state that they ‘provide natural compounds, extracted from renewable marine and terrestrial resources, to reduce stress in crops, animals and humans by strengthening natural defence systems’.
With growing global tensions, a fertiliser company on this island could soon be an even more prescient company.
He told the room that his is a small swashbuckling seaweed enterprise that was jilted by the major international player Arramara in 2022.
BioAtlantis has grown to employ 50 people, inventively adding extra value to the raw product to not just stay in business, but grow as an enterprise.
BioAtlantis views the Clew Bay region as potentially yielding 11,000 tonnes per year sustainably, while their ‘ambitious’ year one plan, as O'Sullivan put it, is for 7,000 tonnes.
The elephant in the room pertained to Arramara, who put in an original application in 2014 for over 5,000 tonnes.
If BioAtlantis succeed and Arramara return with an application, Mayo's 16,000 tonne quota would be exceeded, leaving local harvesters and small enterprises, food start-ups, seaweed baths and beauty products frozen out along the western seaboard.
A great deal of stress landed upon the harvesters of Clew Bay who fear a supplementary income and way of life could be under threat.
Local councillor Johno O'Malley said: "Why are you coming up here to Mayo from Kerry?"
He added that his "neighbours and people he knows are cutting seaweed and are perfectly happy with how things are going and they want to be left alone."
Councillor Chris Maxwell likened the plight of the seaweed harvester to the loss of turf and turbary rights.
"It's a rural way of life and must be preserved," he said.
He spoke of people supplementing their incomes and warned that any threat to that could endanger livelihoods, vowing "no surrender" to big companies and regulations.
He added that people must retain their rights to the foreshore as they will be "worth a fortune" in the future.
The Independent Ireland councillor also sparked the liveliest moment, a brief heated exchange with meeting organiser Paul Lawless, TD, when Maxwell suggested not engaging with the bodies to make objections.
The Aontú deputy seized on that and affirmed his role and commitment to the people impacted by making his voice heard and objecting to applications on their behalf.
Former Claremorris LEA colleague of Lawless, Councillor Patsy O'Brien, admitted he was far from shore but saw parallels in this fight with those in the farming community.
He urged people to resist and criticised the State for its attempts to "control people," warning this was the thin end of the wedge.
It is an easier proposition for the authorities, he argued, to regulate one man with a licence than to check on thousands along the coast.
Deputy Lawless himself acknowledged the difficulties involved in the topic and how it was difficult to know the full background and where it all goes from here.
The meeting must be commended for having both sides of the debate present, and Mr. O'Sullivan and his company deserve credit for putting their side forward so clearly.
Fine Gael's Peter Flynn vowed to put his money where his mouth was and committed to an idea floated from the floor to establish a co-operative.
Councillor Flynn committed, if his fellow councillors were willing to finance the accountant and legal fees, to getting that going for harvesters along the seaboard in Clew Bay using their discretionary funding.
Coastal architect and researcher Helen McFadden, who spoke from the top table, raised the importance of seaweed ecologically for the areas around Clew Bay, noting how it acts already as a nature based solution to prevent coastal flooding.
The suggestion of a co-operative gained some traction, but perhaps the most telling moment came from calls at the back of the room that the visiting Kerry delegation could not yet answer:
"How much will you pay us?" — and will it be more than what they're currently receiving.