On Monday, we told you how the coastline of Belize - like the rest of Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean - has been inundated with sargassum – a
type of seaweed - which has been drifting in from the ocean. It's an eyesore and a nuisance to hoteliers and other tourism workers who depend on the
beauty of the beaches to attract tourists. Despite that, there isn't really anything that they can do about it, except hire workers to haul the stuff
off the seafront.
Today, the country coordinator for the Healthy Reefs For Healthy People Initiative discussed the phenomenon with us, and what is causing it:
Roberto Pott - Belize Coordinator, Healthy Reefs For Healthy People Initiative
"From what I understand and people should know there's a huge area in the north Atlantic, they refer to the sargassum sea. So there's this huge
platform that actually for science it's a spectacle because there's a whole community and they equate it to the diversity of a rainforest that's out
there. Unfortunately one of the things that happen, we can argue about climate change - that they are changing current patterns at times due to
temperatures in the water I believe. And that causes some of that sargassum sea or platform to strip off and come into our area. And I really have to
empathise with the people who live along the coast because they've been overwhelmed with this pad of sargassum that floats in. Unfortunately there's no
easy solution to it. It's a nuisance because some of those organisms in the sargassum itself starts to decay, that's a very foul smell, so it's a lot
of discomfort for those people who live along the coast. It's simply has to be picked up and it make good landfill, especially in those coastal
communities that have to dredge and fill areas. I really think that helps to highlight the issues that Belize is facing because we have sargassum
locally in Belize and the more nutrient pumped into the water just adds to the growth of sargassum. But the sargassum that we are seeing is not from
local sources, it's actually coming across the sea."
Pott also noted that while sargassum is a developing problem for the tourism industry, it's quite beneficial to the environment and marine wildlife. He
discussed a few of those with us:
Roberto Pott - Belize Coordinator, Healthy Reefs For Healthy People Initiative
"Lot of the attention has been on some of the positive effects that these sargassum has in some areas it's known to be used by loggerhead turtles are
part of their micro-tory route. Other scientist referred to is as like escape covers for our nesting turtles, which some are soon to emerge. You know
when they come off the beach they're easy prey for predators. When they have these sargassum maps, the turtle tends to be able to hide under these
sargassum mats. So other than the discomfort to people who live along the coast and businesses that have to now contend with these huge mats, huge
volume of sargassum coming in - there are a lot of positive effects. In fact some of the sargassum has been known to absorb nitrogen that comes off
from human sources, from our coast line."
And it's not just Belize – in Trinidad and Tobago, the Tobago House of Assembly has declared sargassum a national disaster and has called for an
emergency meeting of Caribbean leaders to quote, "discuss the sargassum seaweed invasion across the region."
Email
Print