Cornish Seaweed Futures

Cornish Seaweed Futures was a collaborative interdisciplinary project led by researchers at the University of Exeter’s Environment and Sustainability Institute in Penryn, Cornwall.   The Seaweed scenarios were created with conceptual input from industry stakeholders including representatives from Cornish Seaweed Company and West Country Mussels. 

The project team and its collaborators created a set of plausible seaweed farming scenarios to be used as prompts for discussion with a variety of marine stakeholders in Cornwall, focusing on the potential social impacts of seaweed farming.  

The aim of this project was to identify the potential impacts of seaweed farming, at a variety of scales, on marine stakeholders in Cornwall, and explore social attitudes towards this prospective industry. The team sought to:

• Identify where conflicts may arise between seaweed farming and key stakeholders.  
• Identify where seaweed farming might combine well with existing marine industry.  
• Explore where trade-offs could arise and synergies could be achieved.  

To identify the potential impacts of seaweed farming in Cornwall, the team conducted a desk-based literature review of social impacts of seaweed farming, a set of scenarios and illustrations to be discussed with participants , and a project report outlining key findings from the project.

The team used a qualitative methodology, inspired by the principles of grounded theory, and a scenario-based approach to explore the potential social impacts that three hypothetical seaweed farming futures could have on marine stakeholders in Cornwall.

The scenarios were developed with input from experts in the seaweed farming and aquaculture sectors, and then shared with participants who were asked to consider the scenarios in light of their primary way of interacting with marine resources (livelihood, recreational, aesthetic, management).

Participants included representatives from the fishing, commercial diving, watersports, yachting, hospitality, and marine tourism industries, as well as local resident, harbour authorities and parish councilors. 

One of the strongest themes emerging from the data was caution regarding the introduction of new economic activity, should it jeopardise existing livelihoods. It would not be considered acceptable to displace existing industries that are currently viable in order to trial a new industry that has no proven market of scale in the UK.

This suggests that two lines of research need to be pursued to understand this further: a more finely-grained analysis of trade-offs with marine and local community stakeholders underpinned by more robust economic data for the emergent seaweed sector; second, that research into the market viability of seaweed products be undertaken to identify the realistic scale of this potential industry for Cornwall and how it could impact on stakeholders.

Seaweed farming in Cornwall was perceived as very undesirable if it would jeopardise the character of the place and disrupt the success of existing industries that provide a stable economic base (shipping, yachting, and fishing). However, it was clear that if a local economy were in decline, then seaweed farming could be explored as a new economic sector to revitalise abandoned docks and bring new vigour to a port, this would be a welcome possibility. Locating any on-shore seaweed processing facilities would be best received if it was sited in existing industrial facilities, especially ones in decline or under-used.

Underpinning these aspects was a priority to maintain economic vitality and character of place, which draws tourist investment to the area and consequently brings in amenities that local residents can also benefit from. This would mean considering the local visual and historical character of coastal towns, and working in a participatory manner with local stakeholders to identify what they value, want to protect and promote in their community, and how seaweed aquaculture could support this future vision of place.