Seaweed and water pollution

[listenclear]

Hello.
After reading the health benefits of seaweed and being totally convinced by what i've read i have become interested (for the first time) in collecting some and trying it.

I am concerned about the levels of toxins/sewage in sea water though and was wondering if anyone can point out ways of finding out how clean the water is in a specific area. I found one site which was good for finding out about safety of water for bathing but not sure if thats quite the same thing as eating from the same bit of water

Does anyone here gather and eat seaweed regularly? How do you go about checking etc..

Any pointers gratefully appreciated, thanks.

Oh, by the way I will be living out at east lothian way in sunny scotland

[jdlenton]

umm i know nothing about this it will be interesting to hear whats what,
I'm left wondering though what a good wash and boil wouldn't kill chemical toxins aside that is


J*

[hoppinmad]

Hi,
Try searching on google for lava bread [Bara Lawr], its a bit of a swansea speciality made from seeweed...it is a bit of an acquired taste..but personnally i like it
Hope this helps
regards
Stu
PS If you are going to the moot i will bring a pot along!

[hoppinmad]

Hi
Just found this on google

"Lava Bread is a traditional Welsh delicacy (Welsh: Bara Lawr) made from the seaweed (Porphyra Umillicalis). The seaweed is boiled for several hours. The geletinous paste that results is caled lavabread. lavabread is traditionaly eaten with cockles and bacon or on hot buttered toast.

Porphyra Umillicalis was historically harvested off the Gower coastline, near Swansea in South Wales. Swansea Market has several stalls selling only lavabread and cockles from the nearby Gower Peninsular.

There are still small producers of Gower lavabread, but most commercial lavabread is harvested and produced from Western Scotland.

Lavabread is particularly rich in iodene. It also contains high levels of protein, iron, vitamins B2, A, D and C."

regards
Stu

[Gagnrad]

I am concerned about the levels of toxins/sewage in sea water though and was wondering if anyone can point out ways of finding out how clean the water is in a specific area.

These people monitor marine pollution:

http://www.cefas.co.uk/data/marine-m...icipants-.aspx

There are some PDFs of theirs online, but they don't seem to have published a report since the late nineties.

Here's a brief summary from Pesticide News

A survey of 87 estuarine, intermediate and offshore sites was carried out between 1992 and 1995 to determine the distribution of metal and organic contaminants (including organochlorine, organophosphate and organotin pesticides) in water, sediments, shellfish and fish. The authors of the report generally paint a rosy picture of the quality of UK coastal waters.
One area of concern involves the contamination with the anti-fouling paint tributyl tin (TBT) causing imposex in dog whelks. Imposex is an abnormality in which male sexual characteristics are imposed on the genital systems of females. The female develops a penis, which may block the genital opening so that egg capsules cannot be laid, causing reproductive failure and ultimately death. The relationship between imposex and the presence of TBT associated with antifouling paints, which are used to discourage the settlement of marine organisms on boats, has been established since the late 1980s. This study confirms that imposex still exists off Northern Ireland and the British Isles.
The report recommends that future monitoring on NMP sites should include dog whelk imposex bioassays and TBT determination.
The NMP programme sought a number of organochlorines in marine fish liver, including dieldrin, aldrin, endrin and DDT. Dieldrin was detected in more than 90% of the stations for which data were reported. Highest average levels were found in the Thames Estuary (50 mg/kg) and Moray Firth off Scotland (72 mg/kg). DDT and its breakdown components DDE and TDE were also found. The highest average concentrations were detected off the north west coast of England with average levels of 15-91 mg/kg for DDE, 23-130 mg/kg for TDE and 13-28 mg/kg for DDT.
Claire Vincent, Chair of the NMPWG said: "There are no standards for pesticides in fish liver. However, according to World Health Organisation maximum residue levels, these results are within 'expected values'."
Previous studies have identified organochlorines such as toxaphene and chlordane in UK fish (see PN21 p.15, CRM41 p.5). This report, however, does not include analysis of such chemicals because adequate analytical techniques and quality control procedures have yet to be established.

But this is fifteen year-old data.

[listenclear]

Thanks everyone.
Interesting stuff. I was wondering myself about rendering any toxins harmless by cooking the **** out of it.
I will be at the moot and would love to try some of the bread - i've heard good things about that before - well, i might only get as far as trying the seaweed bit as i don't eat wheat (yup, one of THOSE).
Defo going to check out that site Gagnrad.
Thanks again all

[Tadpole]

The best way to cook the seaweed to make lavabread, is to pick the best seaweed you can find, and at the same time, find a nice smooth round rock (small enough to fit in the O you make between thumb and forefinger), boil the seaweed and the rock at that same time with lots of water,






when the rock is soft and tender, the seaweed will taste edible

[Superfrog]

Hallo,

I am from Bretagne and as far as I know none of the sea-weed found on the French side of the Chanel is toxic. I guess it's the same on the English side ? There are some micro sea-weed which from time to time can poison the sea-shells but I doubt it is of the type you refer to.

We have some great receipes with wrack (we call it "goémon") . As it is harvested during equinox tides, you end up picking it up far from the shore and before we use it, we wash and dried it for 3/4 weeks both under the sun and the moon.

So it's kinda clean when you consume it.

[Jumbalaya]

From a personal perspective I only occasionally use seaweed from with wild waters (down here in Cornwall that is) as I don't trust what lurks in the sea water. Certain s/w species love nutrient-rich environments (sea lettuce is one) so you need to look around any shoreline nearby to see where nasty outfalls might be coming off the land. The odd bit of 'cooked' seaweed which has come from somewhat suspect sources is probably unlikely to do you much harm, but a regular usage could cause problems.

I'm going to be doing a talk at Wilderness Gathering on seaweeds and their use as food, and will have some s/w specimens with me if anyone wants to have a chat.

Marcus

[Miyagi]

Listenclear, if you're out East Lothian way, what impact does Torness Power Station have on the seaweed and/or shellfish populations with regards to eating them do you know?

Here in South Queensferry we can't harvest such because of radio active particles from Rosyth and Dalgety Bay (instrument panel dumping at end of WWII).

I'm going to be following this thread with interest.

Liam

[JosephSmith]

There are so many places all over the world which are affected with water pollution now. This problem could damage our natural resources. It should be prevented earlier to avoid the worst problems that it may cause.

whatiswaterpollution.org

[BoonDoc]

Here in Ireland we harvest seaweed from time to time. Once I found an amazing crop of sea lettuce. It was a huge acre sized area of just lush sea lettuce. I picked a bunch, eating some of it raw and collecting more for home use.
It wasn't until a year later I found out that the sewage station dumped out right there. That is why it was so vibrant.

Be sure you harvest from safe areas.