This past summer, beaches in Florida and the Caribbean have been piled high with foul-smelling sargassum seaweed, often in record amounts. It is the visible sign of a vast marine ecosystem that emerged in 2011 and now spreads across a 5,500-mile-long belt from Mexico to West Africa and Florida to Brazil.
The seaweed mats grow up to 20 feet thick, and this summer reached an estimated weight of over 40 million tons, which is more than the weight of all Americans combined.
The seaweed explosion each summer is wreaking economic havoc in countries dependent on tourism and fishing. In all, the weed has piled up along the coastlines of 30 countries, where it decomposes, releasing rotten-smelling gases and causing a variety of respiratory problems. It interferes with boats, causes mass deaths of marine life, and prevents sea turtles from laying eggs on beaches. For the most part, the sargassum superbloom is a menace.
However, some researchers see the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt as a significant new habitat for marine life in the open ocean and a valuable carbon sink for the planet.
Mexico now spends more than $300 million a year cleaning up the mess and more than 500 workers toil at removing over 100,000 tons of sargassum from the resort beaches of Cancun, Tulum, and Playa del Carmen. The country is installing offshore containment barriers to intercept the mats. There are plans to harvest sargassum for various uses. Plans are needed because sargassum isn’t going away.
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References:
Sargassum Superbloom: Seaweed Scourge or Ecological Boon?
