This article by Krysia Soutar was just published on :
https://news.northernschool.info/issues/2019/autumn/enterprise .
Here is a copy of what was written:
An update on Jayson Byles and Seaweed Harvesting in Fife, Scotland
My September visit to Scotland found me once again visiting St Andrews in Fife. Angus handed me the supplement from The Herald newspaper and, lo and behold, there on the front page was a picture of Jayson Byles. You may remember him from an article I wrote in the 2018 Autumn newsletter [Issue 2] , about harvesting seaweed along the Fife coast. Here is an update on what he has been doing:
Jayson has left the company he was working for and now has his own company ‘ East Neuk Seaweed’. He runs foraging workshops where you can learn about the benefits of edible seaweeds and how to identify and gather them sustainably, according to the season.
Jayson’s native home is New Zealand, he has Maori heritage. His knowledge about seaweed came from a kaum tua, the Maori name for a respected elder, who was very knowledgeable about the coast and seaweed and shared this knowledge with him.
Jayson has informed me that he is against the practice of sea kelp dredging using machines. We currently use a lot of seaweed extracts in our foods, beauty products and pharmaceuticals, so of course there is a vested interest to make money from this, hence the suggested practice of kelp dredging irrespective of the damage this would cause to our beautiful kelp forests and all the life forms which live there. This practice is banned in Scotland at the moment, but companies can continue to ask for permission.
This is another example of pushing short- sighted thinking with destructive consequences to our sea kelp forests. Jayson is an advocate of sustainable seaweed farming in Scotland. “ There is another way, we could farm all the kelps we need, leaving alone the wild stocks we currently have, which would allow room for individuals to continue small amounts of wild harvest for personal use”, he says.
“If it is done right it is a very benign form of farming and, as a bonus, does not require soil. It could also help to remove carbon from the air and is a much faster crop than trees”.
I asked Jayson if he had anything more to report, he kindly sent me a link to the ‘Farmerama’ podcast, episode 50 on SoundCloud . (This podcast has an added bonus - there is an interview with Charles Massy about Regenerative Agriculture, where he explains how he uses ‘biologicals’ not ‘herbicides’ on his farm. )
With my permaculture hat on I would say that what Jayson is doing for a living meets the following permaculture principles:
Working with nature
Using a biological resource
Harvesting so that regeneration occurs
Helping to keep the ocean healthy and therefore the Planet
Producing a local nutrient dense food source
Produces no waste
Right livelihood
Education about a natural resource of which there are many uses currently being researched.
Jayson has sent me lots of information which we can use in future issues and in our courses. Visit East Neuk Seaweed to find further information about his work. See also this short clip from Andy Jackson: Kelp, Kelp, Glorious Kelp.