Drômes and daviers, local adaptations for transporting seaweed

Depending on the local environment, it is sometimes necessary to adapt harvesting techniques.

The drôme, a kind of seaweed raft, is used in certain bays to bring the seaweed harvested at low tide closer to the shore. This technique relies on the “floating” of the raft as the tide rises again. The seaweeds selected are those that float easily thanks to the air held in their floats: Ascophyllum nodosum and Fucus vesiculosus. The seaweeds are piled onto ropes joined by wooden cleats at their ends. When the tide rises again, men standing on top of the drôme push it towards the land using a pole. A rowing boat is sometimes used to tow it.

The daviers: when the coast is steep with cliffs, the carts cannot reach the shores. The seaweed harvesters then use winches fixed at the top of the cliff to hoist the seaweed up. Sometimes, stone walls were built at the edge of the cliffs to straighten their line and prevent rockfalls. A pierced stone overhangs the shore and allows a cable connected to the winch to pass through. The tops of the cliffs, laid out in terraces, made it easier for the horse to work as it hoisted the loads with a cable.