To address the slow and intricate procedure of preparing, deploying and harvesting of seaweed planted lines and to efficiently utilize manpower including the women and school children in seedling/planting material preparations, the Mechanical Seaweed Harvester and Seaweed Planting Table with Tie-line Straw Inserter were developed by the Palawan State University-Marine Science Laboratory under the leadership of Professor Floredel D. Galon. The Mechanical Seaweed Harvester and Seaweed Planting Table with Tie-Line Straw Inserter are innovations in seaweed farming operation where manpower requirement to plant and harvest the seaweeds to and from the farm sites is labor intensive.
The Harvester is driven by a gasoline engine that allows the spooler to rotate. It is also equipped with pulley and belt to regulate the spooler’s speed. The spooler pulls the seaweed tie-line, which passes through a circular blade that cut and separate the seaweeds from the tie-line. With a linear velocity of 25 meters per minute, the Harvester is 5x efficient than the traditional practice of harvesting seaweeds from farm sites.
The Seaweed Planting Table with tie-line straw inserter uses a foot-operated pedal. The straw is inserted on the tie-line through the needles and partially pulled up when shafting returns to its original position. The machine can insert 15 straws per minute or an efficiency of 36% faster compared to the traditional practice. The tie-line straw inserter is attached to the table with spooler underneath that collects the tie-line inserted with straws at speed that can be regulated.
Seaweed farmers are expected to benefit from these technologies in terms of increasing farm profitability and reducing risks/hazards to farmers during farming and harvesting, particularly during stormy weather.