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Seaweed harvester Marc O’Goill, who works for Blath na Mara seaweed company, hauls a net of serrated wrack (Fucus serratus) seaweed across a rocky shore on Inis Mor of the Aran Islands, Ireland. A project coordinated by Ireland’s agriculture body, Teagasc, is tapping into the country’s growing seaweed harvesting industry, which is seeking new markets as it revives centuries-old traditions
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Sheep stand together in the Teagasc Mellows Campus in Athenry. Irish agriculture is under huge pressure to cut emissions, as the country’s per capita output of methane is the highest in the EU. Some 35% of national greenhouse gases come from the sector and more than 60% of that comes from methane associated with belching by ruminant animals. A report released before the Cop26 climate conference said up to 1.3 million cattle would have to be culled in Ireland to reach anticipated government targets
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Seaweed harvester Coleman Dundass stands in his currach boat in Kilkieran as he ties up three ‘climin’, two-tonne seaweed bundles that he gathered. Scientists in the US and Australia have found dramatic methane-reducing qualities from one seaweed type, Asparagopsis taxiformis, when small quantities are added to animal feed
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Sea spaghetti seaweed (Himanthalia elongata) rests on top of sea lettuce (Ulva) while the tide is out, before it is harvested by Blath na Mara, on a rocky shore on Inis Mor. The Teagasc study aims to find native seaweeds to use instead of Asparagopsis. While researchers say they are unlikely to match the cut in emissions of over 80% shown with Asparagopsis, early trials have found methane reductions of between 11% and 20%
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Emily Roskam, of Teagasc, feeds sheep during the Seasolutions trial, in which sheep are fed seaweed extract to reduce their methane emissions at the Teagasc Mellows Campus. ‘Research has shown that different seaweeds reduce methane emissions; there’s green, brown and red seaweed. These [in the trial] are a brown seaweed extract and we are seeing if they reduce methane emissions in the sheep,’ she says
![Emily Roskam, of Teagasc, feeds sheep during the Seasolutions trial, in which sheep are fed seaweed extract to reduce their methane emissions at the Teagasc Mellows Campus. 'Research has shown that different seaweeds reduce methane emissions; there's green, brown and red seaweed, these [in the trial] are a brown seaweed extract and we are seeing if they reduce methane emissions in the sheep,' she says](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/81c6493d5d05b87bb8431406a62cebbe66bc9f8c/0_0_3500_2333/master/3500.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=45cb18d0d7deff30421e354a2bce3c86)
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Emily Roskam and Sarah Woodmartin, of Teagasc, shepherd sheep out of a holding pen towards the methane measuring chambers near the end of the Seasolutions trial. Each morning the 140 sheep are fed silage, concentrates, nuts made of maize meal and molasses, and 100g of the additives. ‘We have a “control diet” or we have seaweed extract,’ Roskam says
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Emily Roskam lets a sheep out of a chamber after measuring its methane emissions at the end of the Seasolutions trial. A study involving cattle is planned next year. Ireland is one of more than 100 countries to have signed up to the Cop26 global methane pledge, which aims to reduce human-caused methane emissions by 30% between 2020 and 2030. Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the country’s climate action plan will set out specifics for all sectors – including agriculture – on how to achieve reductions
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David O’Halloran, who runs Blath na Mara with his wife Jenny, harvests sea spaghetti (Himanthalia elongata) on a rocky shore on Inis Mor. While some seaweed farmers plan to retain their focus on organic food and cosmetics, others are keeping an eye on potential opportunities in the animal fodder market
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Evan Talty, managing director of Wild Irish Seaweeds, turns carrageen moss (Chondrus crispus) at his seaweed farm in the Co Clare village of Quilty, where it has been laid out to dry in the sun. ‘Sustainably harvesting means we get crop regeneration. Seaweed has been harvested in this area for hundreds of years. Once sustainably harvested in the same way as our ancestors have done, it will continue to regenerate,’ he says
