Scientists predict record year for sargassum
(CNS): Large quantities of sargassum washed up on the shores of the Cayman Islands this weekend, just days after scientists from the USF College of Marine Science published their work tracking this year’s blooms using NASA satellite imagery. The researchers said they are detecting record-high amounts in the Caribbean, central west Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico this season, even outstripping the largest sargassum bloom ever recorded in history in 2018.
“This year is shaping up to be a banner year for sargassum,” said oceanographer Chuanmin Hu, who leads the team, in an article published on the University of South Florida’s website.
Here in Cayman, pictures taken this weekend of Spotts Dock by a CNS reader show the now familiar blooms washing onto the south shoreline. Cayman is not alone. According to Hu, significant beaching events have already occurred throughout most of the Caribbean, with reports of it reaching the shoreline along the east coast of Florida.
“We can’t predict exactly where the beaching events will occur, but we know there are more of these events to come. It’s heartbreaking to see this large bloom at a time when some of the pandemic-related travel restrictions have finally lifted regions that rely so heavily on valuable tourism dollars,” he said.
Cayman has been experiencing an influx of the seaweed since May but it seems things are set to get worse before the summer is over.
One of the challenges clearing the unwanted seaweed is avoiding beach erosion, and while it can be unsightly and smelly, the only safe way to remove it is by hand. In 2019 the Cayman Islands Government invested significant public cash into trying to keep beaches clean and created a task force to work on a long-term strategy to prevent the build-up.
But with the borders still closed, it is unlikely to be a priority for government spending this season. On the upside, sargassum is said to make great free fertilizer.
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Category: Marine Environment, Science & Nature
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It’s great with stew turtle.
Sargassum is actually a helpful thing for the environment. It traps CO2 and helps slow ocean acidification. It stinks for beach owners but because of the rising temperatures of the world, nature is trying to do something to offset the change. Hopefully one day soon we as the human race come together to try and save our planet but until then nature came up with lots of Sargassum
I will have to disagree with sargassum being helpful for the environment. Do you happen to live on the beach where the sargassum piles up by the ton? I do, and it is terrible! While some may think it could be dried out and used for toilet paper, it hasn’t been okayed by the Premier for that use as yet……. or anything else that I am aware of. (Not counting it’s use for fertilizer. It would make fertilizer but it might take too much time and money to distribute it.) What to do, what to do, what to do…..?
if this stuff hits smb…cayman is done.
Cayman is done, just doesn’t know about it yet. Forget sargassum and plastic, at least you can collect it, the styrofoam snow on the beach is the last drop that would bring Cayman down- you can’t collect it.
Environment protection doesn’t exist in Cayman.
Everything is after the fact.
Grand Cayman has turned into a very toxic island, detrimental to health and wellbeing. WtE is soon to come and will turn Grand Cayman from very to extremely toxic. Don’t forget to get Covid jab, god forbid you will die from cancer unvaccinated.
quaestion for our the great realtors of cayman?
what does sragassum do to the value of your beachfront property?
Please set up a collection facility where farmers and gardeners can collect in their transport. All that’s needed is a backhoe. I will willingly take two truckloads. Thanks, standing by for an announcement.Problem solved.
collection facility = beach. Go ahead. Problem solved.
Good news, we’re going to need to be eating it soon.
http://www.eattheweeds.com/sargassum-not-just-for-breakfast-any-more-2/
Trying it this weekend.
Eating sargassum that has travelled more than 1,200 miles from the Sargasso Sea to Cayman’s shores through polluted waters is not a good idea. Between the chemical and petroleum contamination that floats on the surface of the ocean with sargassum, it’s likely worse for you than a fast-food burger.
It doesn’t all start in the Sargasso Sea, it is everywhere now and traditionally was thought to start life in the Gulf of Mexico and drift into the Sargasso Sea.
The Gulf of Mexico probably has even worse pollution, especially when it comes to petroleum!
The green turtles eat it and the small ones live in it.
Poor little guys.
Wonder if the USF scientists (or anyone) are studying the properties of sargassum, perhaps medical? The Amazon and other rainforests, deserts, fields and even our backyards are the sources of plants, which when extracted, synthesized, modified, mixed, etc. become our daily medicines. Why not aqua plants?
Why not get the “out of work” tourism workers who are collecting stipends, work to clear the beaches, get them back to work and work for the stipend
‘Cause we ain’t got no place to put it all.
If you clean the beach it keeps coming in.There is 400 yards,or more in places,,out to sea behind it.
A big worry is that the turtles cannot get in to lay their eggs. This will have serious long term effects on the turtle population.
from the place that eats turtles…
Not everyone here eats turtles…
Don’t let the plane door hit you on the way out.
Yes…. And I’ve heard that rats are edible……. but I don’t eat them either!
08 @ 9:34 am. Yes, many Caymanians eat the sea turtle. Why is that so different from people in various US States (esp. the South) – Louisiana, Alabama, Carolinas and others who eat the tortoise (snapping turtle)?
At least we don’t eat frogs!
We should be laying it out, washing it, drying it out, shredding it and bagging it up for export. This is seaweed meal fertiliser and commands a huge price in the rest of the world. Hey, it’s here. Let’s make the best of it, instead of hauling it to the dump.
It’s the washing part that’s the problem. Water’s expensive.
My first thought
A new job for the tourism workers. It might offset the stipend
Proud USFlorida alumni here and a born and raised Caymanian. Truly a great school to attend. Caymanians love visiting Tampa/Miami for a reason.
Is that sargussum?
Ok?
So much for US Florida education.
Wont impact tourism here though , Dr Hu .
That stuff smell stink
I think it’s the unused masks from the English Danish match.
Dem foreigners brought it.
Actually Brazilian farmers and big business clearing the Amazon and fertilizing fields with abandon brought it. And you thought Brazil was far away and Al Gore was a leftist. Just wait till oxygen levels start falling.
Thanks Elsa
“I love the smell of sargassum in the morning”
Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore
Well it doesn’t take a scientist to look at the beach and see it.
They used satellite images and then called it.
What is PACT going to do about it?
Same thing they do about everything, nothing.
“Pact” it up and put it in your backyard!
Planting mangroves. They trap it offshore, create a storm buffer, and will actually create new land and provide protection against sea level rises.
Great idea. Should we start on 1,000 or 2,000 feet of water?
No, South Sound would be a great start. Lots of shallow flats where certain residents (in my experience, of North American origin) have physically removed the baby mangroves that were reestablishing themselves naturally, as well as those intentionally planted in concrete reef balls placed there with the assistance of government, for that purpose. They want an unobstructed sandy white beach…
If we bothered to enforce our laws there would be mangroves all along those flats.
And little sargassum on the beach…
Government should not remove it from places where residents illegally removed mangroves.
Lol
The new tourist site: Stinky Cay