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Yeti101

Collcting Seaweed from NSW Beaches?

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Like the title says: Is it OK to collect seaweed from NSW beaches for personal use (as compost, mulch, homemade seaweed solution etc)?

This link:

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/365844/Section-37-Permit-Marine-Veg-for-Commercial-Purposes-Information-Kit-12V1.pdf Suggests that it is so long as it's outside of any marine or national parks, aquatic reserves, RAMSAR wetlands or other protected zones, is dead/unattached and is less that 20kg per day (way more than I would need).

My council doesn't seem to say anything about it either way.

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Spoke to someone from Lake Mac council today who confirmed that I can collect up to 20kg of seaweed per day. Composty goodness will ensue.

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They didn't say, they just use the DPI legislation (see link is post #1) without any of their own additions. I know that the situation is the same in the Great Lakes council area, but in other council areas I could not say. The only reason I checked is that I never saw anyone around here doing it and people around here can be protective of their beaches. If no one has made an issue of it you are probably OK- but the only way to know for sure is to call your local council.

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have always been under the impression that seaweed is the property of fisheries and collecting is illegal. purely word of mouth but that includes tafe teachers.

also i'm in queensland.

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Quite possibly different in QLD - since it is covered by state legislation. I can't make much sense of the QLD Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website as the search function is broken. It will be a state by state thing.

What I can say is that in NSW so long as it's outside of any marine or national parks, aquatic reserves, RAMSAR wetlands or other protected zones, is dead/unattached/washed up, is less that 20kg per day, is not for commercial purposes and there are no other local council regulations it seems to be OK.

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my brother in Tassie, collects it, and rinses it off with a watering can, then brings it home and chops it up with the mower before mixing it into the dirt or simply mulching with it. It does wonders in the veggie patch.

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many species are good to eat too.

I used to collect it very fresh kelp (Ecklonia radiata) when I lived on Nth coast NSW,

hang it on the clothes line to dry and use it later for soups ( miso soup mainly)

but yeah really great for compost, especially for getting sandy soils to hold more nutrients and moisture.

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