Bull-kelp processing on trial basis

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33095, 9 December 1972, Page 19

Bull-kelp processing on trial basis

There is no suggestion that vast quantities of bull kelp are being harvested from New Zealand shores for export overseas, according to Professor G. A. Knox, professor of zoology at the University of Canterbury.

Professor Knox, who has been responsible for initiating a wide-scale research project on bull kelp, was commenting on a letter to “The Press” by “Kelpie 2,” who said that he was “most

perturbed to read that vast quantities of kelp are to be harvested from our shores to be exported and processed in Japan.” Professor Knox said that a trial shipment of chips of bull kelp had been sent to Japan for processing in conjunction with a New Zealand firm. “We have suggested that if the proposal to establish an industry is proceeded with we should know something about the resources on which the industry would be based, such as the kelp’s regeneration levels and also what effect its removal would have on the total shore and shallow-water life,” Professor Knox said. There were several other important considerations which would have to be taken into consideration before exploitation took place —these included investigations into what effect the removal of kelp would have on shore erosion and the need to set aside special areas for “harvesting” the kelp. “The Marine Department is now involved in working out such possible areas,” Professor Knox said.

“We are concerned to provide- information as background to harvesting proposals which may, or may not take place,” he said. “If it did lead to harvesting, it would be a controlled and rational exploitation.”