In Plymouth , the Blue Future conference on Monday and Tuesday of this week, at Hotel 1620, sponsored by the Plymouth Foundation, got off to a futuristic start highlighting our town’s marine economy and featuring a contingent from Donegal, Ireland, leaders in the aquaculture industry…
WATD’s Bobbi Clark has more.
Stephen Cole, Director of the Plymouth Foundation, says Plymouth is very quickly becoming a leader in the blue/green economy: “Plymouth has the raw natural resources, the policies, the partnerships and the support to help companies start and grow in the blue sector.”
Cole says the Irish are here partly because…”…they have about a generational lead time on us and so many more entrepreneurs who are working in the aquaculture. They’re also here to learn a little bit from us because we’re a little bit ahead with robotics and AI.”
One of the products of the blue economy are those made from kelp, a large brown weed that grows in underwater forests, and Mayor Martin Harley of Donegal County, Ireland notes that it’s free:
“Economically, there’s a massive benefit to it because, as I said the raw material is free, it’s there—so it’s a win-win situation.”
Garry Martin is Donegal’s Director of Economic Development:
“It is a free product, but it’s really, really important that we harvest it sustainably. So they always leave the last 6 to 9 inches of the seaweed on the rocks so it can regenerate itself.”
Declan Gallagher is the founder of OTG Seaweed Company. They export to 22 countries—the U. S. being their biggest market:
“So we manufacture a kelp extract. We’re located in a small coastal rural village, called Kincasslagh.”
So are you making money, Declan?
“Not enough. My wife and my daughter says I don’t make enough they haven’t enough shoes. But, no, the business is going great!”
In Plymouth, Bobbi Clark, WATD News.
