Seaweed Farms Port Quin
Information relating to marine licence applications for two seaweed farms (case reference (MLA/2023/00307 and MLA/2023/00308)
Documents
Details
Update 30 October 2024
The MMO has now completed our internal review of the further information submitted by the applicants for the Port Quin Seaweed Farms and updated our assessments. The MMO is now in a position to begin re-consultation on the further information documents which were submitted by the applicant following the original consultation. Re-consultation with the primary consultees, including Cefas in regard to benthic ecology, coastal processes, and fisheries, was opened yesterday (29/10/2024) and will run for 4 weeks. All consultees who were originally consulted on the application are being re-consulted.
The applicant was asked to place one public notice in a suitable location nearby the proposed works, two adverts for one week in a local paper and one advertisement in fishing news. The MMO have now received photographic evidence of the physical copies of the public notices that have been pinned in Port Isaac and Port Quin and can confirm that notices have been placed within the Cornish and Devon Post, and Fishing News.
The public consultation has therefore now been opened, starting today (30/10/2024), for the re-consultation on the further information submitted by the applicants regarding these marine licence applications. Please visit our public register at https://marinelicensing.marinemanagement.org.uk/mmofox5/fox/live/MMO_PUBLIC_REGISTER to review the further information document, and submit a representation. The MMO welcome all representations, but we’d appreciate representations made specifically in regard to the further information document. Members of the public are welcome to submit their opinions on this application, and if appropriate ensuring that representations are evidence based quoting technical sources if available. All information submitted during the original public consultation has been reviewed and considered, and therefore does not need to be submitted again.
The further information document is called ‘MMO Redacted Biome and Camel Fish MMO FIR 1 and 2 September 2024.pdf’. The deadline for submitting a representation is close of business on 27/11/2024. The case team will aim to acknowledge receipt of your representation as soon as possible after submission, however depending on how many we receive, there may be a slight delay. Please be assured that all representations will be acknowledged.
Update 16 August 2024
The MMO have accepted the latest request for further information submitted by the applicants on 23 July 2024 and are continuing with a detailed review. Once this is completed, we will look to make some updates to our Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) before reconsulting with our primary advisors and statutory consultees. The MMO cannot commit to specific date on which consultation will commence. The MMO will also re-consult the public on the further information documents submitted by the applicants at the same time. An update will be posted on our website once this next round of consultation is open for public comment. When consultation opens, please make any representations to the MMO via the Public Register.
Update 30 July 2024
Following the previous update, the MMO issued the subsequent request for information on 09 July 2024 with a response deadline of 23 July 2024. The MMO also advised the applicant that if they were unable to fulfil the request within 14 days from the date of notification that the MMO would then issue a final 7 day ‘minded to refuse to proceed’ letter. If no response was received or if the MMO did not consider the request fulfilled satisfactory then the MMO would proceed with rejecting the MLA applications.
The applicants provided their response to the MMO on 23 July 2024.
The MMO is now reviewing the information received to determine the next steps. A further update will be provided in due course.
Update July 2024
The second consultation closed on 15 March 2024. After reviewing all evidence provided by both the public and statutory consultees the MMO has issued two further information requests (FIR) on 22 April 2024 and 02 May 2024. The first FIR related to marine mammal entanglement and the habitat regulations assessment (HRA). This had a deadline of 03 June 2024. The applicant provided a response on 03 June.
The second FIR related to information regarding the historic environment, navigational safety, impacts to fisheries and impacts to the Landscape and Seascape. These were issued with a response deadline of 13 June 2024. The applicants provided a response to this request on 13 June 2024.
The MMO provided the applicants with a deadline of 42 days to respond.
Following the submission of the applicant’s information, the MMO case team has reviewed the submissions but do not consider them sufficient enough to consider the initial requests as fulfilled.
Therefore, the MMO has placed the applications on hold and the applicants have been notified that further work is required to satisfy the FIRs referenced above. If the applicants are unable to satisfactorily fulfil the request within 14 days from the date of notification, then the MMO will issue a final 7 day ‘minded to refuse to proceed’ letter. If after these 7 days, or if the MMO still does not consider the request fulfilled satisfactorily the MMO will move to reject both applications.
Since the date of the last update the MMO has published the initial consultation responses received. Alongside the public representations received during both public consultations exercised. The document (“MLA202300307and 00308 Public Representation Log (Redacted)”) can be found within the “view application and documents” section of the application on the public register for both cases. The links to both cases can be found below:
Please be aware that consultation comments have been published to the register.
Case Details
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) received two Marine Licence applications (MLA/2023/00307 and MLA/2023/00308) in July 2023 for two seaweed farms, to be located in Port Quin Bay; outside of Padstow harbour jurisdiction. The licence application requested that works be licensed from September 2023 to August 2073.
The application proposed that the cultivated seaweed will be native to the UK and will be produced to provide food, low-carbon animal feed and fertiliser alternatives and biomaterials to replace single-use plastic and cartons. The applicant has also proposed that the seaweed farm can potentially sequester carbon at a rate six times that of trees. Habitat restoration and increased marine life were also included as benefits in the application.
Technical Assessment
On review, the MMO conducted a technical assessment of the application including an assessment as to whether the works were capable of falling under Schedules A1 or A2 of The Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 for the purposes of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA). The MMO confirmed that the cases did not require EIA under Schedule A1 or A2.
The MMO also carried out a Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA) under The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 as the proposed project is situated within the Bristol Channel Approaches Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The site of works are also located 324 meters away from the Padstow Bay and Surrounds Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) and so an assessment was carried out under Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (MCAA 2009).
Further assessments were carried out including a Marine Planning Assessment, Water Framework Regulations Assessment, Waste Regulations Assessment, and others as a requisite. The MMO requested further information from the applicant as required at this stage.
Consultation
Following an internal assessment, the case proceeded to consultation under MCAA 2009.
In addition to consulting the public, the MMO also consulted the following bodies:
- Local MMO Office (south west marine area)
- Natural England
- Environment Agency
- Historic England
- Maritime and Coastguard Agency
- Royal Yachting Association
- Trinity House
- Padstow Harbour Commissioners
- National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisation
- Cornwall Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority
- Duchy of Cornwall
- Cornwall County Council
The MMO has received a large volume of emails from the public in relation to MLA/2023/00307 and MLA/2023/00308, with the view that the advertisements were not placed within the local vicinity of the works and so they had not been made aware. The applicants advertised their project as requested by the MMO under the MCAA 2009 in one local newspaper on 25 October 2023 (Cornish Post) for one week and placed one advert in ‘Fishing News’ on 26 October 2023. The applicants also placed a public notice at Padstow Marina notice board on 16 October 2023. At the time, the MMO considered that this complied with our publicise request.
However, after further consideration, taking into account the concerns raised, the MMO has concluded that the public notice was not placed in such a manner to bring the application to the attention of persons likely to be interested in it. This decision was made in line with the MCAA 2009, Section 68 (2). The MMO also notes the comment that the Marine Case Management System (MCMS) was previously showing that there were no public consultations running for this case. This was due to the original public consultation having closed on 22 November 2023.
As such, the MMO requested the applicant to undertake a second round of public consultation for 28 days, which began on 16 February 2024, and ended on the 15 March 2024.
The MMO received a large volume of public representations for this case. The MMO is currently reviewing representations received as part of this further public consultation and previous consultation with various bodies and will take account of them during the determination process. The MMO decided that further information is required from the applicant to address matters raised by the consultees. This is in relation to:
- Entanglement of marine mammals
- Impacts on seabird colonies including the puffins on the mouls (the rocky “island” on the west side)
- Impacts on local fishermen
- Use of the bay as an anchorage
- Damage to the gear
- Visual impact of the buoys on the AONB
This list is not exhaustive and may be subject to change as the case progresses. The MMO advise checking this webpage for case updates rather than contacting the MMO directly. Further updates will be published in due course.
Updates to this page
Last updated 30 October 2024 + show all updates
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Update 30/10
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Update 16 August 2024
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30 July update
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July update
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First published.