WATCH: New plan to rid bay of green slime

Friday 14 August 2020

Twice as much sea lettuce should be able to be removed from St. Aubin’s Bay thanks to a new plan to tackle the annual problem.

Before, tractors loaded the unsightly green seaweed onto a landing craft, which beached in the bay on a spring tide.

It then floated off on the high tide and dumped the lettuce at sea.

This method meant it could be filled up once a day.

Video: The new way of doing things underway.

From today, however, the weed will be loaded onto trucks that will transport it to St Helier Harbour and onto the waiting landing craft.

This means the ship isn’t restricted by the tide and can dump its green cargo at least twice a day. 

Picture: The Normandy Trader landing craft is loaded with sea lettuce at the old lifeboat slip in St Helier Harbour.

Infrastructure’s Assistant Manager, Bob Major, who came up with the idea, said: “We’ve tried a number of different methods of clearing sea lettuce from the beach and we always consider any new ideas that are brought to us. The department wants to sort out this problem and safeguard Islanders, and this new trial will mean that we aren’t reliant on the tides to do the work.

“We will be working on the beach from early on Friday morning to get the seaweed removed, and if this works, Islanders will soon see a real difference along the bay.”

Pictured: Tractors pulling 'Surf-Rakes' collect sea lettuce, which will be spread on fields as natural fertiliser.

The department will also be harvesting clean green sea lettuce with a ‘Surf-Rake’, for spreading on available farmland. This is subject to environmental restrictions and is also a trial.

Infrastructure Minister, Deputy Kevin Lewis, said: “Sea lettuce is a difficult problem that we have been tackling for many years. This plan will make a real difference to the beach, as we will be able to use the landing craft consistently, regardless of tides. Each full load takes approximately 80 tons and if Friday’s trial is successful, the contractors will work throughout the weekend to load up the landing craft and clear the beach.

“I would like to thank Bob Major for coming up with this idea, and we can hopefully spread another 500 tons of clean sea lettuce on agricultural land.”

Before this new plan was started, Infrastructure staff have been removing 80 tonnes of sea lettuce a week for composting, which is the maximum capacity of the La Collette green waste site. This process removed 141.76 tonnes in June and 186.3 tonnes last month.