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La Voz de Cádiz
Cadiz
Sunday, 8 September 2024, 10:41
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The appearance on the south coast of Spain of the invasive Asian algae (Rugulopteryx okamuare) has made it necessary to set up initiatives to help make the most of this invader. One such project in Andalucía's Cadiz province is been carried out by Luz Pelayo and Mari Luz Caballero, two students of the SEP permanent education scheme in Tarifa who, as part their project to combat the drying out of the cork oak forests so prevalent in this province, are achieving some positive results in that these trees have improved "by 15%" since they have been using these algae as fertilisers.
The trial has been under way for the last two years on six cork oak trees at Finca La Almoraiba where Luz Pelayo, one of those responsible for the project, told Europa Press that it is yielding "very good results."
The algae used to create this fertiliser, which is "replicable by anyone", are collected from the beaches of Tarifa, by means of a fast-track municipal authorisation given for this research. In fact, this Cadiz municipality is this summer one of the most affected by these invasive algae, already estimated at more than 9,000 tonnes.
Regarding the fertiliser, Luz Pelayo pointed out that the idea is that "it should be replicable for anyone who has a farm", because what they want is for it to be "easy to make" and that it can be "used more." That is why this product is "easy and cheap", because "it is no good for us to make a fertiliser that costs us a lot of money and is very complicated."
In the last year the project has produced some 800 litres of fertiliser, which requires a process of several months from the time the seaweed is harvested and washed clean until, after being blended with other ingredients (sugar cane and rainwater), it is converted into the desired product.
In this sense, she regrets that neither she nor her research partner, Mari Luz Caballero, have the funds or aid to develop their project beyond the six trees due to their lack of resources. The costs of collecting the seaweed and making the fertiliser are borne by the two of them using their own limited resources.
As she said, she would like to be able to extend this project "to many more cork oak trees", but at the moment they do not have the economic capacity to make more fertiliser to combat the drought. "The idea would be to have many more trees, but we can't, we can't make fertiliser for so many trees," she said.
For this new academic year, they hope to continue the project by testing their algae fertiliser on the Almoraima cork oaks located on the farmland where they had reached a non-commercial agreement with the landowner to test their idea.
As for progress they have been able to verify some with the six trees to which this fertiliser has been applied. One of those responsible for this project explained that they do it "visually", through photographs taken at intervals as they do not have a "large laboratory" or more resources for "a more in-depth analysis." However, they purported that the comparative images show that the trees "have improved" and that their product works.
For this reason, and in line with the demands of Tarifa town hall, they have requested that the Ministry of Ecological Transition allow the commercialisation of this invasive algae and thus "add some value" to this 'fertiliser ingredient' that is increasing its presence on the shores of Cadiz. It currently holds a negative image harming tourism and costing the affected councils a lot of money for its removal and disposal from their beaches.
Their idea is to "make the most of the seaweed" and "instead of burying it, to put it to use", removing it from the coast to use it in different projects that can be developed with it as an ingredient, as with cosmetic products, something that Luz Pelayo herself is working on.
This project to combat the drying-out of cork oak forests using invasive algae as a fertiliser won second prize in the ConCienciArte 2023 competition of the Parque Natural del Estrecho (natural park of the Strait).
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