Food from the ocean

My last camping trip, early 2019, was to the South Coast of Western Australia, a campsite managed by DPAW (Department of Parks and Wildlife), accessed by a very corrugated dirt road. No water, no power, no phone signal. I loved it.

Many who go to these places are fishermen (and women), but as I am a vegetarian, I have wondered what food I could source from the ocean.

Shellfish possibly. Some vegetarians consider these OK to eat, as they are barely rated as animals, not having a spinal cord. They are considered to be "plants that move". Hmmm, don't know.

Then there's seaweed. Apparently, most of the seaweed that washes up on our shores is edible. I do ask myself, though, if it is edible, why haven't the fish eaten it?

This webpage has some useful info:

https://www.milkwood.net/2016/06/06/foraging-drying-using-seaweed-australia/

Ah, recognise this, kelp, all over the place at beaches:

That page states that live seaweed cannot be collected, only dead. That is in NSW, but I saw on this webpage, the same applies to WA:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/313836965/Seaweeds-Australia-Newsletter-Issue-3-2-Nov-2013

Licenses are required from both the Department of Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Fisheries for personal and commercial collections of live seaweed (an Other Prescribed Purposes Licence). Permission from the relevant land manager/s (e.g. local govern-ment authority) is also required. However, dead beach-cast seaweed is not protected and if only dead sea-weed is being collected and it is not being removed from a marine reserve, then no license or authorisation is required. However, another separate department, the Department of Environment and Regulation should be contacted to ensure that one does not undertake activi-ties that may constitute ‘clearing’ under the Environ-mental Protection (Clearing of Native Vegetation) Regu-lations 2004 made under the Environmental Protection  Act 1986.

I hunted, could not find information on those licenses. A search of Dept. of Fisheries returned zero hits for "seaweed" ...hmmm.

The problem with dead seaweed is that it rots. You would need to be able to identify freshly-dead seaweed. A bit like collecting road-kill!

This blog post is in a new category, "nomad", and there is also a new section on my website, http://bkhome.org/nomad/ 

EDIT 2019-04-16:
I found the "Other Prescribed Purposes Licence" form:

https://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/images/documents/plants-animals/licences-permits/Flora/forms/App_-_Scientific_or_Other_Prescribed_Purposes_Licence.pdf

...doesn't look like DPAW will smile kindly on an individual wanting to collect live seaweed for eating!  A licence is valid for 1 year and costs AU$10. Here is some more information:

http://www.licence.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/BusinessLicenceFinder/prod/licence/7756

...what about the "personal enjoyment" category? 

Tags: nomad