Creating a thriving shellfish and seaweed farm is a long journey, often starting at least two years before a single farm can be deployed. Our first step? Asking local communities if they’d support a Community Benefit Society establishing a sea farm in their waters. Once we have their backing, our skilled marine scientists take over, working on seabed surveys, Habitats Regulations Assessments (HRA), and visual impact assessments. These are just a few pieces of the marine admin puzzle needed to secure a Marine License. Once the application is approved, we move into ongoing environmental and species monitoring to ensure our farming practices protect the marine ecosystem. For every hour spent on the boat, there are at least four more behind a computer! One of the stars of this process is our marine biologist, Beth Marshall. With years of experience in aquaculture and environmental monitoring, she’s one of the hardest-working members of the Câr y Môr family. When Beth’s not out on the water, you’ll find her pouring over side-scan sonar images, checking the health of the seabed, compiling the detailed environmental reports required by our license, or updating our Ocean Farmer monitoring app. She’s also the mastermind behind scheduling the maintenance and stock work for when the weather and tides cooperate. Beth’s vision is to establish Wales’s only seaweed hatchery in the old lifeboat station at St. Justinians. This hatchery would not only provide seedlings for our farms but also create local jobs and inspire others to start their own farms in Wales’s beautiful seas. The Community Benefit Society is working tirelessly with the RNLI, TCE and PCNPA to make this dream a reality. Beth’s expertise doesn’t stop at Câr y Môr either, read more about the pioneering projects she’s contributed to such as PEBL https://lnkd.in/e-MZznap and Project Madoc https://lnkd.in/eJehDnYF which are helping kick-start the shellfish and seaweed farming sector across Wales.
Keep growing 💗
Agroforestry Advisor
3wWell done Beth, keep up the good work! And what a lovely LinkedIn post…