In Seychelles the tons of seaweed that is washed on beaches are collected by hand, washed and dried in the sun before being cooked and the liquid fertilizer extracted from it. The factory can today extract 4000 litters of the liquid fertilizer per day based on a 200 litter amount per ton. This liquid fertilizer is used for foliage.
After the extraction of the liquid is completed the seaweed is sundried again before being pulverised and turned into fertilizer for use as soil conditioning. The Port Louis Praslin factory is producing today up to 4000 litters of hot water through solar energy which is used for their steam boiler unit for cooking of the seaweed.
Bernard Port Louis and his son Benjamin have confirmed that they are ready now to put their product on the Seychelles market and are also vying the Indian Ocean Islands of Reunion, Mauritius, Sri Lanka as well as Europe with liquid fertiliser for foliage and pulverised cooked and dried seaweed for soil conditioning from their Seaweed Factory at Baie Ste Anne at Praslin. The seaweed treatment process plant at Praslin is an example for many tourism destinations and today Seychelles can export its knowhow and its natural products coming from seaweed but that is good for landscaping and agricultural farmers.
Bernard and Benjamin Port Louis are now ready to firstly provide much needed fertiliser for Seychelles, but are also ready for the export market as a commodity with a “Made in Seychelles”. This is part of what Seychelles is pushing as the Blue Economy because seaweed washing up on the beaches of Seychelles during a time of the year comes from the sea and it was until now considered as a challenge for the island’s tourism industry. Today the same seaweed is being used as a crop that provides employment and will be on the list of export products from Seychelles.
It is estimated that in a seaweed season on the island of Praslin about 100 thousand tons of seaweed fall on the island’s beaches and this had resulted for many years with a cry for help by members of the Praslin Tourism Industry. Today Bernard Port Louis and his son Benjamin are showing clearly the capacity and knowhow by Seychellois and are again appealing for the Government of Seychelles to embrace the project that still needs land for drying the tons of seaweed collected.
Seaweed is Piling Up on California and Caribbean Beaches
Recently an article was published about beaches in the USA suffering with tons of seaweed being bumped by waves and tide onto its beaches. Today we see that the Caribbean is also suffering loads of seaweed are threatening the Caribbean’s sea life and tourism. Experts say we may be to blame. Workers come from across Mexico to find jobs here, like Pancho Vergada, a 72-year-old guitarist from Veracruz state who plays songs for tourists in Playa del Carmen. The seaweed, he said, is causing him to go broke. In years past, his three-piece band would typically play 20 or 30 songs a day for vacationers drinking beer and eating fried fish at plastic tables set in the sand. These days, the band is lucky if it plays four. (from Kate Linthicum, 08 Sep 11:18 AM Travel News Wire)
Source: Saint Ange Tourism Report
