6 History
The farmer seaweed harvesters
Al labourerien-douar bezhinaerien
The people of the coast live off the resources of both the sea and the land. Harvesting seaweed and farming are complementary activities.
On the coast, seaweed spread directly onto the fields is used as fertiliser to enrich the soil with micronutrients and mineral salts. In the Léon, a freight railway line nicknamed the “potato train” carried this soil amendment from the boat-unloading areas to the zones far from the coast.
Seaweed also goes into feeding livestock, providing supplementary nutrients to the animals’ ration: this is known as bezhin saout (cow seaweed).
Once dry, it forms a reserve of fuel for the winter, especially when wood runs short. Dry or as ashes, it served as currency for trade between coastal and rural communities: it was then bartered for firewood, or keuneud.