Home   News   Article

Isle Martin's planned Seaweed Festival postponed due to Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown; Summer Isle event would have been part of Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters programme


By Philip Murray

Easier access to your trusted, local news. Subscribe to a digital package and support local news publishing.



Click here to sign up to our free newsletters!
Isle Martin, where the Seaweed Festival was due to take place.
Isle Martin, where the Seaweed Festival was due to take place.

A SEAWEED festival which would have brought visitors flocking to one of the Summer Isles has been postponed due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Isle Martin would have played host to Scotland's first Seaweed Festival on September 5 and 6, as part of the country's Year of Coasts and Waters programme.

Festival Curator, artist Julia Barton, said: “In the light of the coronavirus situation, we have decided that sadly, there is no alternative but to put back the Isle Martin Seaweed Festival to ensure the safety of our community during this time”.

Regarding when the Festival will now run, Julia explains “We’re working with VisitScotland and our funders to review all options and will be announcing a new date for the Festival as soon as we can”.

Julia and the Isle Martin Seaweed Festival Working Group have not given up on celebrating seaweed entirely this year however, with two exciting activities still in the pipeline. The first is involvement in the Marine Conservation Society’s Big Seaweed Search project to map the seaweed beds around the whole of the UK coastline. Two beaches on Isle Martin have been selected for inclusion in the survey, which is expected to take place later in the year.

Seaweed on Isle Martin.
Seaweed on Isle Martin.

The second activity is a fascinating kelp experiment by local archaeologist Cathy Dagg who, as part of her academic research into the history of kelping will be conducting experiments into how the kelping industry operated in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It is believed to be the first time such a series of planned experiments have been undertaken in this historic activity that had such an impact on human lives on Scotland’s West Coast.

The Isle Martin Seaweed Festival was selected to be supported by the Year of Coasts and Waters 2020 events fund, managed by EventScotland.

The Seaweed Festival was due to be part of the official programme for the year and was being part-financed by the Highland & Moray FLAG European & Maritime Fisheries Fund Programme and Scottish Government.

It was also receiving funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Scottish Natural Heritage through the Coigach and Assynt Living Landscape Partnership and the Ullapool Harbour Trust.

Click here to read more news.


Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More