Sacha wrote:
Oh dear, how depressing.

Sorry.

And the CIs are pretty close to Cap de la Hague.
On that theme, I went with a group to visit the Nuclear Fuel plant there and
we were given a marvellous lunch. While we were commenting on how delicious
the trout were, someone remarked in a gravelly voice "they were the size of
goldfish this morning". It wasn't easy to explain that to our French hosts,
under the circumstances!

)

If, in terms of damage to the ecosystem you're thinking of harvesting the
seaweed, as far as I know they way that's done now is simply to pick up
what's been washed up by the autumn storms. I don't *think* anyone goes
down at very low water to cut it as they did once.

No. Farms are being created for this - in fact everywhere in Scotland.
Big business now because of it's 'organic' attraction. Sadly
Ascophyllum entensive harvesting in the Outer Hebrides show signs of
recovery only after 6 years. The culture also is thought to have a
significant effect on the ecosystems surrounding the farms, primarily
because of the increased detritus, cover and surface area that the
seaweeds provide when cultured en masse. The fact that many of the
seaweed farms are in sheltered fjords and inlets also means that
currents to remove the excess nutrients are weak, exacerbating the
problem. In addition, some of the artefacts of plantation schemes (such
as anchors for the growing nets) are slow to degrade and may remain in
the cultivation areas for many years.

But they're continually trying to redress the problem ... but as the
demands increase. One just hopes one doesn't get too greedy with the
situation indeed (