Uist Asco

Breathing life into an old industry

Reviving the traditional art of seaweed harvesting is set to breathe new life into an old industry – while providing much needed jobs and economic growth in the remote community of North Uist.

The remote Outer Hebrides on the far west of Scotland has a long and proud history of harvesting seaweed. In the 1980s, it was a common sight on the coasts of Uist to see seaweed being harvested, ready to be shipped to Girvan for use in the alginate industry. This practice gradually died out as synthetic alginate was discovered.

Now, thanks to the vision of Ragnall Maclain and his family, this old tradition is being revived.

The family founded Uist Asco to harvest local, naturally grown seaweed and gently dry it using woodchip from its own forest, for use in both plant and animal feed.

Canadian bio-tech company Acadian Seaplants Limited acquired Uist Asco in summer 2017, seeing its great potential and the synergies between the two companies. Acadian Seaplants is the largest independent manufacturer of marine plant products of its type in the world, with its main focus being the sustainable harvesting and processing of wild seaweeds.

“Uist Asco will complement Acadian Seaplant’s work perfectly, as well as Arramara Teoranta, our Irish seaweed harvesting operation,” explains Jim. “It’s fairly early days, but Ragnall and his family have laid the foundations for a strong, successful business. And, in fact, Ragnall has stayed on with us as Resource Manager," said Jim Keogh, Europe Director, Strategic Affairs.

“The premises are ideal – we have a large yard of around two acres that’s suitable for industrial use, a disused quarry, and a forest of over 200 acres that they planted 20 to 25 years ago. We plan to use wood from the forest as biomass to power the boiler which uses water from a nearby loch to create the heat to dry ascophyllum nodosum – the seaweed – harvested from within a ten-mile radius by local cutters. The Maclains also negotiated a lifetime lease with the estate to harvest seaweed so everything’s in place.”

The roots have been sewn for Uist Asco to succeed. But getting it right and operating at full capacity is not as simple as it might seem – which is why the engineering expertise, specialist knowledge and financial strength of Acadian Seaplants is essential.

“The theory behind seaweed harvesting is simple. Basically, you collect the seaweed, you chop it, you dry it, and then you process it into seaweed meal or powder,” says Jim. “But it’s a lot more complicated than it sounds and there are many factors involved – technical, engineering and therefore financial.