Seaweed Pressing Workshop
February 23, 2026
HINHC hosted the first in a six part series of local seaweed themed workshops on a gloriously beautiful Winter day on Hornby Island. We were blessed with the weather as a storm had just passed delivering a fresh wrack of specimens to the beach at Grassy Point. And, we had sunny weather with calm sea conditions.
Keelie Taylor (Phycologist) and Mina Lander lead the workshop and brought a wealth of experience from their work at the herbarium at UBC’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum. A diversity of algae species were found in the wrack from all three major lineages including many specimens in the genera Chondracanthus, Sarcodiotheca, Ceramothamnion, Neorhodolmela, Sargassum, Fucus and Ulva.
We had 12 participants with three sending regrets last minute (flu season). The ratio of participants with two workshop instructors worked very well and the maximum participant number of 15 would have also worked well given the venue capacity. Carpooling from New Horizons to Grassy Point could have been organized better ahead of time but given that there is lots of space for parking at this beach location, this part was not a problem.
The New Horizons space was amply big enough with four rows of tables for people to spread out with the pressing equipment and specimens, while still remaining cozy. Refreshments were provided and enjoyed by everyone (including a seaweed mint tea and other seaweed themed snacks).
