PLANS to harvest kelp on “an industrial scale” could be killed off in Holyrood this week. Over the summer, Ayr-based Marine Biopolymers Ltd put forward proposals to begin industrial scale uprooting of kelp forests on the west coast.

In a scoping report, put forward as part of an application for one or more five-year licences, the firm said they would, eventually, seek to harvest around 30,000 tonnes wet weight.

They hope to extract natural polymers from the mechanically-harvested seaweed to use in foods and pharmaceuticals. The kelp would be processed at a plant in Mallaig in the west Highlands.

Next Tuesday, Holyrood’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee Meeting committee will vote on a Green party amendment to the Crown Estate Scotland Bill which would only permit kelp harvesting by hand.

Green and Labour MSPs have indicated they will back the amendment. It’s understood there is sympathy for the proposal from Tory and SNP members of the committee too.

This, campaigners say, would block all mechanical dredging, which they claim is an indiscriminate technology.

Fishermen have already expressed fears over the plan, worried about the damage the dredging could do to kelp beds, fish and shellfish.

There’s also been a huge outpouring of public opposition to the plan. A petition launched by an Ailsa McLellan, an Ullapool based Oyster farmer who harvests kelp by hand, launched just last week has already received more than 10,000 signatures.

She said: “Existing businesses that harvest kelp do it responsibly and sustainably. The rules say that no kelp can be destroyed, that any bycatch of other species must be recorded, and that we must not alter the habitat. These are sensible rules, and they are obviously not compatible with mechanical dredging that tears kelp up by the roots.”

Last week, the Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust launched the Help The Kelp campaign.

Charles Millar, Executive Director of SIFT said the industry was looking for fairness: “Current seaweed harvesting methods are strictly governed by the Crown Estate to ensure they have no negative economic or environmental impacts, and the same must apply here. There cannot be one rule for self-employed local harvesters and another for the industrial scale companies.”

Douglas MacInnes, one of the co-founders of Marine Biopolymers has promised the company will keep the environment at the heart of their work. He told the Press and Journal the scoping report “was the result of several years of in-depth research into the critical environmental factors we need to consider before we started this consultation process.

“It shows our initial thoughts on what and where we plan to harvest. The next stage is the full environmental survey, which will be carried out by internationally renowned scientists, to ensure our research is accurate.”

But Green MSP Mark Ruskell said that simply wouldn’t be possible: “Clear felling Scotland’s kelp forests would be disastrous for nature and coastal communities alike. This kind of industrial smash and grab exploitation of our environment belongs in a by-gone age, we need industries that can last, not short sighted proposals that deny future generations healthy seas and coasts. My amendment would not forbid traditional harvesting that allows re-growth of the kelp, there are certainly economic opportunities to develop that, but industrial scale kelp harvesting has no future. It needs to be stopped before it gets going and destroys our coasts.”

Labour MSP Claudia Beamish, who sits on the committee said it was “absolutely right” that the newly devolved Crown Estate should be “tasked with considering whether any future licences for harvesting of kelp continue to be given on the basis of sustainability.”

She added: “Mark Ruskell’s amendment will ensure that licences will not be granted ‘from any area of the seabed under their management where such harvesting would inhibit the regrowth of the individual plant’.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “We are committed to protecting our marine environment and there are processes in place to achieve this. Under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, anyone wishing to carry out the removal of seaweed from the seabed with a vehicle or vessel must have a marine licence.

“A scoping report, which was submitted to Marine Scotland, is at pre-application stage during which the environmental aspects which require to be assessed as part of the licensing process are agreed.

“Marine Scotland will consult fully on any forthcoming application and environmental assessments. Scottish ministers will then make a determination on a licence application, taking into account the effects on the environment and other uses of the sea.”