Seaweed harvesting

The Crown Estate licenses sustainable, commercial harvesting of seaweed from areas of foreshore and seabed within our ownership.

Commercial harvesting of seaweed from areas of Crown Estate foreshore or seabed requires a licence from The Crown Estate. This helps to ensure the practice is managed sustainably and with the approval of the relevant natural heritage authority, i.e. Natural England, Natural Resources Wales or The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland.

Seaweed collection for personal use, in small qualities does not require a licence. However, we would recommend that anyone doing so takes account of the environmental sensitivities of collecting anything from the wild.

The Crown Estate does not licence harvesting of natural seaweeds in designated conservation areas.

To apply for a seaweed harvesting licence please provide:

• An indication of the exact location where you are looking to harvest
• Whether you propose to harvest on foreshore only (i.e. between Mean Low Water and Mean High Water) or below Mean Low Water as well
• An indication of the species of interest
• A rough indication of the annual wet weight volume of seaweed sought (in 10’s or 100’s of KGs)
• Documented confirmation from the relevant environmental authority, stating their satisfaction that the proposed activity is sustainable and will not result in any significant adverse environmental effects

Please submit your application to the managing agents for the area in question. Managing agent details can be found here.