Welcome to this Special Edition of the CHPSC e-newsletter with important breaking news.

‍Natural Resources Wales has granted a Marine Licence for a commercial scale seaweed farm located at St Tudwal's Islands, in Cardigan Bay.

The following is extracted from the Marine Licencing, Notices and Announcements'. See the link below.

'The Tudwal Bio Project' aims to become operational this autumn when it will be deployed and seeded, with first harvest anticipated during Spring of 2025.

The project is sponsored by Amazon’s “Right Now” climate fund and aims to help address climate action targets in Europe by “tapping into the vast, unmet potential of seaweed cultivation”.

‍Seaweed absorbs nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon dioxide and produces oxygen, and has been identified as part of the solution to climate change and ocean acidification.

It produces a valuable biomass with a wide range of uses from pharmaceuticals to animal feed to fertilisers.

The developer 'Kelp and Help' is part of the North Sea team working on a commercial scale seaweed farm located within an offshore wind farm. The “North Sea Farm 1 Project” involves ten hectares of water off the Netherlands coast and is billed as the world’s first commercial scale operation of its type.'

‍We have investigated this matter and have found that Natural Resources Wales has in fact sponsored and encouraged the developer to work in the Cardigan Bay area.

A representative for the project told us 'Following detailed and in depth consultation with representatives from all stakeholder groups this site was chosen for its unique qualities and rich biodiversity making the site ideal for growing seaweed.'

We have also established that the project has obtained funding from the Coastal Communities Fund, which is funded by Crown Estates who will inevitably benefit from the project with significant sea bed royalties.

‍The extent of the exclusion area at St Tudwal's Islands in alarming and we have now raised the matter at the highest levels. We have on your behalf, questioned the validity of the consultation process, which appears not to have included recreational users of the sea area in question.

The RYA is concerned that the licence was granted without the usual notification to RYA team, by use of what they call a 'loophole' in the licencing process.

In view of our alarm and concerns we have arranged a public meeting at Plas Heli for Friday evening at 6pm, 5th April. We have been assured that there will be representatives from both Natural Resources Wales and Kelp and Help, the developer, attending to address our questions and our concerns.

You are all welcomed to attend, please show your support, and help formulate our plan of campaign to oppose this development and reverse the licence granted.

To attend please record your attendance on the following link and it would be helpful to receive your questions in advance of the meeting by reply to this newsletter. 

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