Norfolk Seaweed set to plant its first crop off Morston

Norfolk Seaweed has been given a licence to grow sugar kelp on a 150 x 60m area of seabed, in around 30ft of water.

The aquatic plants can be used to make fertiliser, animal feeds and bioplastics and the Norfolk project - the first of its kind in UK waters - is intended to establish how such farms could be developed on a much larger scale off the British coast.

Norfolk Seaweed has harvested kelp from the Lincolnshire coast, from which spores have been cultivated in a Dutch laboratory.

The tiny plants attach themselves to twine, which will be wound around thicker ropes before being anchored to the seabed.

Farmed seaweed being harvested (Image: Dr Gill Malin / UEA) Jamie Athill, one of the firm's directors, said the first trial batch of kelp would be planted later this month, while the fast-growing fronds will be ready to harvest next spring.

"By March we will know if we're a goer," said Mr Athill, 68, a retired army colonel and deputy lieutenant of Norfolk.

"We will then be able to predict what the yield from a full commercially-sized kelp farm might be.

"We are pretty confident it should grow well here because it grows well on the coast of the Netherlands, which is a similar sort of sea." 

A seaweed farm in China (Image: Dr Gill Malin / UEA)

A report last year said Norfolk's 90-mile coastline could develop a new sustainable industry.

It said: "Developing a seaweed industry and taking advantage of the growing market is a great opportunity for Norfolk, with several local companies already using or wanting to use seaweed in food, sustainable plastic packaging, and antimicrobial products."

As well as providing a new natural resource, the kelp will also create a habitat for fish and other marine creatures as it grows.

It also filters sea water and helps combat the effects of storms and coastal erosion.