Earth Day is April 22nd However, to us every day is Earth day!
From the time Sherina Jamal (founder, product developer) began the initial steps of creating her product line containing locally harvested seaweed (and Canadian glacial clay) she was committed to ensuring all aspects of the harvesting and processing were 100% sustainable.
How does our seaweed harvesting protect the local eco-system and environment?
About 15 years ago after 2 years of research on how specific seaweeds can benefit the skin, Sherina Jamal(founder/ product developer) procured an exclusive partnership with environmentalists/harvesters of local indigenous seaweed from the Northern BC Coast.
It was important to Sherina that she only worked with seaweed that would be sustainably harvested with no negative impact to the environment, would support the local ecosystem, would be harvested and processed correctly and would support local communities.
The original mandate of our harvesting partners was to stay true to the vision of harvesting kelp that respected and protected the fragile kelp beds.
In order to ensure this stability our partners took steps required to work with government and aboriginal interests to create harvesting standards that limited harvesting windows to ensure the beds were protected.
During the harvesting process unlike some other kelp harvesters, we do not use any aggressive techniques, chemicals or petroleum powered machinery. Our partners work with Aboriginal divers that carefully hand prune and follow strict government guidelines. In addition to the above, since the harvesting is done by aboriginal partnerships, the local reserves in those areas have tangible input into the respectful harvesting process while having it provide jobs.
The kelp we chose to work with is Macrocystis Integrifolia Pacific Seaweed.
This is one of the fastest growing and most nutritious. Once 5-7 feet is harvested it can grow back within days, this in turn helps to ensure no negative impact to the local ecosystem and marine life that rely on the kelp beds for food, shelter etc.
The processing of the kelp once harvested is also done by our partnership and is done in a way that is sustainable as it uses the whole plant with no wastage. It’s also a gentle technique called cold processing that helps to retain the integrity of the seaweed.
In addition to the above partnership, we also have another harvesting partner for our seaweed located in the Queen Charlotte islands. This seaweed is also Macrocystis kelp and it is harvested by hand by a local Indigenous owned company.
We along with our harvesting partners believe that harvesting on local BC beaches should be restricted so that ecosystems of the beach are not jeopardized in any way.
We are very proud to offer our products that reflect our belief that respect for the Earth is a daily practice and we hope to be an inspiration for others to follow the same principles and practices.
