This

disclosure is a supplement to the WIPO patent application CA 2014/00515

entitled System for Harvesting Seaweed and Generating Ethanol Therefrom.

In relation to Fig. 35, there is a need for a practical way to sever or cut large aquatic
plants rather than pull them out from the substrate, while simultaneously piercing
the seaweed by a tine. This has the benefit of leaving a small portion of the aquatic
plant intact, which may regrow as well as leave the substrate undisturbed, while
securing the product and pulling it down into the transverse conveyor.

Vegetation Cutting Mechanisms 350 are well known in seaweed harvesting and may
be the same mechanism as a reciprocating saw or a hedge trimmer. The difficulty
with this particular mechanism is that it must retract similar to the conveyor belt,
but in different proportions, so as to line up correctly with a vertically positioned
piece of kelp for example. A laser range finder/feedback system may assist in
locating the seaweed. The proportions may be determined by the orientation of the
specific mechanical pick up device 120, which may have its position determined by
a gyroscope providing information to a microprocessor 11.

Independent retractable mechanism 350, which may be a piston, screw, or any
other mechanism, is structurally connected to a pressure sensor 351 and a
vegetation cutting mechanism 352. The pressure sensor 351 transmits pressure
information to a microprocessor 11. The microprocessor 11 or an analog circuit
may retract the independent retractable mechanism 350 as well as the retractable
conveyor belt in Fig. 35.