A place full of promise and exploration, cliff top walks, sheltered bays and breath-taking sea views, the Yorkshire coast is an area of rich contrast and humbling beauty and impressive things are happening along our county’s shores.
SeaGrown is one such exciting coastal adventure!Founded by Wave Crookes, an ex-navy diver, and his partner Laura Robinson, a marine biologist, the two combined their love of the sea and passion for the environment to develop a pioneering seaweed farm off the Scarborough coast. Many smaller scale seaweedharvesting projects do currently exist along the UK’svaried shoreline but, with a 25-acre site, three miles out into the North Sea, SeaGrown's visionary plan is to become the UK’s very first commercial offshore seaweed farm.
Fast growing, hardy and sustainable, there are over 700 remarkable species of seaweed found in British waters and seaweed grows in great abundance along Yorkshire’s coast. Unlike most land plants, seaweeds do not have roots, instead they attach to solid surfaces from which to grow, absorbing necessary nutrients from the water swirling around them. SeaGrown’s farm uses ropes on which to grow the seaweed until the crop is large enough to harvest - fully grown seaweed can grow up to several meters in length. Using a sophisticated anchoring system, SeaGrown are hoping for up to three harvests a year, applying a method which is robust enough to withstand the wild conditions and challenges presented by the North Sea but, which also avoids damage to the seabed and marine life