AGAR COLLECTING STILL PROFITABLE IN BAY OF PLENTY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 68, 25 November 1949, Page 5

AGAR COLLECTING STILL PROFITABLE IN BAY OF PLENTY

First commenced in New Zealand in 1942 the collection of agar seaweed around the coast line has now grown to a profitable industry, especially on the East Coast area of the Bay of Plenty and from Hicks Bay to Gisborne. In the Bay of Plenty alone in the past seven years collectors of this novel crop have reaped £20,000, while in the other area £IO,OOO has been collected. Used very widely in modern chemistry, agar supplies to New Zealand were cut off from Japan during the war and attention was then focussed by necessity on any possible local sources. This was done and a factory was established and had agar for sale by 1943. The industry has been built up to such a stage today that New Zealand manufactured agar has a world wide reputation for high quality, Compared with other industries that of agar is very small but is important. It has proved profitable to a number of people, who ha -e taken on the job of collecting agar in their spare time.

Lately however, the New Zealand agar has been threatened by the reappearance on the woi'ld’s markets of the Japanese supplies. The price is higher than pre-war but low enough to be a menace to the New Zealand product. The industry has been further set back by the fact that the collection of agar seaweed in the last twf.o years has decreased considerably. To find out why this is happening special research officers are to carry out an investigation in the Bay of Plenty during the coming week. They will make visits to the various centres where efforts will be made to revive the collection on the same scale it was a few years ago. As far as the/Bay of Plenty collectors are concerned there are depots for receiving the agar supplies at Gisborne and Auckland. It is believed that one reason for the falling off in supplies is. due to the decrease of the weed in some areas. Miss L. B. Moore, a botanist of the Department of Scientific and industrial Research, is to accompany the officers and will investigate the plant growth in various areas.