Algae, sea grass
Antonio Lasa has been collecting Gelidium algae for 35 years. it's called "grass" by algae collectors. He works mainly between Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Jaizkibel.
ANTONIO LASA; algae harvester: The Alga comes like the leaf of the tree: it grows in the summer and then in the autumn it falls with the wind. Well, there, equally: in summer the grass grows, and then, when the sea becomes rough, this grass falls, and with the edge dead algae or dead algae.
It always comes from the bad sea. Take care of the coast a little bit, and look every morning if there is, and if there is, or when you take the form of coming, then let the people know for work, and they come. We put in some nets that we fill, tie up the cable and pull to a place where the truck or tractor comes from. We load the tractor, take it to the fields and deploy it. And dry it there. It doesn't always dry out. If it rains for 15 days, it rots, and then it's useless. And if we don’t, we dry it and make the bundles and sell them to the one who pays the most.
The dried Gelidium algae is transported to factories producing agar-agar. In this Hispanagar of Burgos, for example, because they are far from the sea, they can not hide that they work with algae: the smell of the sea is really penetrating. They extract agar-agar from Gelidium, a gelatin, a gelatin powder, to put it correctly, of great use in the food industry, and also in laboratories for growth media, for example.
The extraction of the gelatin containing the algae is carried out under heat. Five to ten kilos of algae are required to extract one kg of gelatin, i.e. the yield is between 10 and 20%.
It is filtered and the resulting gelatin is pressed to dehydrate. The agar-agar has the following appearance at the end of the process: dry and milled.
JAVIER FERNÁNDEZ; Hispanagar: It is used in industrial processes, dairy products, sweets, donut butter and so on. But, for the future, the most important application is that related to the determination of microorganisms: bacterial growth, growth media in Petri dishes, etc. Agarose is also extracted from agar-agar and used in molecular biology. You
can go a long way, starting with this seaweed.
ANTONIO LASA; algae harvester: I don’t know, I know very little about the future. We just know... that every year they get something new out of this seaweed, and we're hoping to keep moving.
For the future of algae harvesting, not only new applications are of course important, but also the amount of algae harvested. Apparently, there are not as many algae as there used to be, and today it reaches the coast much less.
ANTONIO LASA; algae harvester: The thing is down to one in ten, due to the amount collected. About one in ten. Maybe it will come later, but a long time ago, in these last years, it is like this. To make a
kilo of dried algae, you have to dip four or five, and I don't know how many will be dried if... twenty, forty tons or so in these last years. Before that, I went for three. Dry, huh? Take out the accounts.
ANTONIO LASA; algae harvester:We know that from Zumaia to Galicia the quality decreases a little; other bad algae are involved and...
Essential for the collection of algae is that the Gelidium algae reach the coast cleanly, with few impurities. In some places, however, it comes mixed with other algae. Among these algae, there is one that needs to be taken into account, an invasive tropical algae that has spread widely in recent years. On the beach in San Sebastián, for example, it is remarkable. They noticed his presence about four years ago.
JULIAN MARTINEZ; Insub: We noticed the appearance of a new species, a red species, very similar to a native one. And we were completely surprised when we took him to identify him: he was one of the species of tropical
environments. It is surprising that with such a large amount on a beach where so many people walk, the experts have not previously noticed the appearance of this algae.
In autumn, this invasive algae Centroceras clavulatum is evident on the beach of Ondarreta, it is so abundant. When the tide is low, the rocks appear to be painted with red brushes. This algae is not only found in Ondarreta, of course; it grows in many protected areas of the Basque coast.
JULIAN MARTINEZ; Insub: Among the exotic species that have been collected in the bibliography so far, this has been the most widespread on the Basque coast by far.
This algae is a relatively new issue; we are talking about a ten-year gap, which, speaking of ecosystems, is a very short period. However, what is clear is that it is affecting the biological diversity of the area.
The currents and waves cause the two species of algae to mix; they become cramped, resulting in a greater impurity of the Gelidium that is collected in the areas where the invasive algae grows.
JULIAN MARTINEZ; Insub: The difference between the two is remarkable. The Gelidium is a larger sesquipedale with a wider branch... and the Centroceras has the appearance of cotton balls.
The algae collector's job is seasonal. The collection starts in September and ends in December.
ANTONIO LASA; algae harvester: And whether it's a party or a Saturday, there's no time. We do the work with the tide, and the sea runs at its own time, and if you don't take it, it takes it back. That’s our job, yes.
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