Sea lettuce harvester trial postponed

Tuesday 23 August 2016

The green, slimy seafront looks set to continue as plans to bring over a seaweed 'eating' machine have had to be shelved.

The Department of Infrastructure (DfI) today issued a statement saying the French machine will not be available this summer, but may be in operation in the Autumn - news which will not be greeted kindly by Jersey's beach lovers.

The statement read: "The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has been told that the French seaweed harvester, that was planned to come over for a trial in September, has suffered some technical problems and cannot be released.

A few weeks ago the Minister for Infrastructure and the Minister for the Environment went to France to view a sea lettuce harvesting machine in action.  The French manufacturer then agreed to bring the machine over to Jersey in Battle of Britain week to trial it in St Aubin’s Bay. However, one of the two machines they have is currently out of service and the other is needed in France so the visit to Jersey has been postponed.

DfI will continue to liaise with the French company with a view to rescheduling in the future. Later this year may be a possibility but this will not only depend on the availability of the machine but also whether there are still quantities of seaweed about."

Martin Gautier, Assistant Director of Technical Services for DfI, said: “We are sorry to hear that the seaweed harvester will not be able to come as planned. Once we hear that the machine is operational again, we will make a decision on rescheduling.”