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7. SEAWEED PROBLEMS AT KINGSTN SE.
History of seaweed problems at Kingston SE.
The seaweed or seagrass that is washed up on the shore has been an ongoing problem for many years. Some years ago a plant was set up by the jetty and the weed was burnt and then the ash bagged up and exported to Germany. It is believed to have contained many different minerals. A stone shed was built to house the burners. Whether it was poorly built or the foundations not stable is unrecorded, but it fell down before being used.
Lacepede Bay has always been known for calm waters but at times there have been violent storms which have caused damage to both the jetty and the fishing fleet. During such a storm in 1928 a twenrt six foot fishing cutter was washed ashore and buried under 17 feet of seaweed. The owner witnessed this from the jetty and expected to extricate it from the weed once the storm had abated. However, although many men crawled over the bank of seaweed, it was six weeks before it was located and another eight days before it was finally dug out.
In recent years there have been several attempts to harvest the seaweed for garden mulch and fertilizer but so far it has not been a successful enterprise.
Info courtesy Kingston branch of the National Trust.
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