Biodiversity & Conservation

MIR.LhypGz is important as a habitat for fish which in turn are predated by mammals, otters and seals especially.

Kelps have been harvested for the alginate industry which produces valuable emulsifiers and gelling agents for cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industry. Laminaria hyperborea is harvested commercially in Norway, Brittany, Scotland and Ireland. Wilkinson (1995) reviewed the effects of kelp harvesting. He suggested that extensive shallow kelp beds absorb wave energy, acting as natural coastal defence in some areas and that harvesting should be restricted in theses locations. Echinus esculentus is an important structuring species and is collected commercially but not in numbers that would adversely affect the biotope. It was the object of a specific fishery in Cornwall in the 1980s. Nichols (1981) pointed out that although most divers missed small specimens within kelp beds, population densities should not be allowed to fall below 0.2 per metre to conserve the species in the UK. The possibility of a sea urchin fishery in Shetland for the Japanese market has been investigated (Penfold et al., 1996).

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