The motorisation of the boats and the changing tools

Motorisation came to the boats gradually after the war, first to the sailing sloops and then, in the 1960s, to the rowing boats. Yet the seaweed harvest itself remained manual for a long time.

The work was hard and the earnings modest, and the trade began to lose its appeal. Manufacturers feared they would no longer have enough raw material. Securing the future of the profession by mechanising the means of harvesting therefore became essential.

Many prototypes were tried out to replace the guillotine, but it was the scoubidou that finally revolutionised the harvest. The tool grew out of the trials and ideas of many seaweed harvesters, among them Yves Colin, who filed the patent. The hand-operated scoubidou — a rotating hook used to pull kelp from the seabed — was more effective than the guillotine, which cut through the stipes of the kelp. It tore the seaweed free and brought in far more of it, but it made the work even more physical.

From the 1970s onwards, mechanising the scoubidou with a crane system improved both working conditions and output. The boats grew larger. Today they carry 40 to 50 tonnes of kelp on average, where the sloops carried 2 to 3 tonnes.

Key dates

• 1945 — Motorisation gradually reaches the seaweed sailing boats.
• 1959 — Yves Colin fits his boat, the Marie-Pierre, with a recent type of outboard motor.
• 1961 — Invention of the hand-operated scoubidou: the harvest is multiplied by four.
• 1963 and 1966 — The Tali and then the Jean-Rémy try to suck up seaweed cut by a diver. The trials fail.
• 1967 — The Jean Ogor, an experimental boat, is fitted with a mechanical scoubidou.
• 1971 — The hydraulic scoubidou is perfected: the turning point of the trade.
• 1977 — 75 seaweed boats are equipped with it.
• 1978 — After the Amoco-Cadiz oil spill, manufacturers buy seaweed “green”, i.e. fresh.