Pumping trial starts on sargassum in North Sound
(CNS): The Department of Environment’s sargassum clean-up trial will continue throughout this week, officials have said. Garvin Park, which is the base for the pilot operation, will remain closed until Thursday to give the contractors time to pump out a significant amount of the floating seaweed, which has been trapped in the North Sound for over a week and is now decomposing.
The system, in which a pump sucks up the sargassum like a giant wet vac, was tested on Friday and the DoE is looking closely at how fast the seaweed can be sucked up and removed from the water. The pumping is now set to take place over the next four days, which will allow officials to determine the feasibility of the experiment.
Ministry of Sustainability Chief Officer Jennifer Ahearn said a multi-agency response had been mobilised, including the DoE, Hazard Management Cayman Islands and the Department of Environmental Health.
“The Cayman Islands Government is working to address the current situation and put in place long-term solutions to deal quickly with future incidents. Unfortunately, the influxes of sargassum we are seeing in the Cayman Islands are driven by external factors such as climate change and represent an emerging, long-term issue that we will have to manage on an ongoing annual basis,” she said.
However, the immediate priority is to address the current large-scale influx of sargassum in the North Sound, hence the decision to contract a local company for this trial run.
Premier Wayne Panton has said that the government will find the necessary budget for whatever is determined to be the best solution. But first, it is important to find out what works for this type of clean-up, where the sargassum is trapped on the surface of the coastal waters in the North Sound, among the mangroves and washed onto the ironshore. This presents a different problem from previous influxes, where the seaweed has washed up onto the beach on the southern shores.
Although Garvin Park is currently closed, boatowners can gain access to the park by request with the gate security throughout the work period.
Questions can be sent to doe@gov.ky or call 949-8469.
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Category: Marine Environment, Science & Nature
So which genius at the DOE came up with this idea? Probably the same one that thinks you can catch marine poachers in an outdated and slow diesel boat, from land in polluting diesel trucks, and apparently from ALT’s whilst conducting private business.
But don’t let facts get in the way of wasting public money.
Too bad for the rich homeowners and landowners that own coastal properties. Just protect 7MB and let the rich homeowners deal with their own problems. No CIG $$$ needed.
I’m too smart to be elected to public office, but if I had any authority or responsibility here is what I would do.
1. Borrow a few samples of cocaine and ganga from the police evidence locker, if there is any left.
2. Call a press conference and announce that the pumping was a failure, but during the short period a considerable amount of ganga and coke was found interspersed in the sargassum pumped ashore. Display the samples.
Less than 48 hours later the problem is solved.
Was a wetsuit not part of the plan?
Private sector. Staff health & safety not a big concern.
Where is the precious army that we are spending millions on???
Amateur hour! This “unnamed contractor” is laughing all the way to the bank. His approach will fail but he’ll get handsomely paid.
cost prohibative in cayman….and btw …we grow very little.
remember we live in a place where eggs are shipped in from overseas in refridgerated containers and are still cheaper than locally produced eggs.
A joint experiment between WWF-Mexico and STINAPA Bonaire found that vegetables grown in soil enriched with sargassum had higher levels of arsenic and cadmium, heavy metals that can be toxic to humans and animals. Researchers warn that sargassum should not be used to compliment animal fodder, nor used as a fertiliser for consumables until further investigated.
Results of preliminary investigations:
Although, in general, there appeared to be no significant physical differences (shape or quantity of vegetable production) between plants grown with or without the presence of sargassum, samples analyzed at the Radboud University laboratory found that arsenic levels were higher in vegetables grown in soil with sargassum. More specifically, bok choy had 37 times, zucchini 21 times, spinach 4 times and soil 13.5 times more arsenic than their counterparts grown in plain potting soil. Cadmium levels were also higher in plants grown in sargassum enriched soil, with chemical analysis showing bok choy having 2.5 times, zucchini with 3 times, spinach with 1.3 times and soil with 2.7 times the amount of cadmium than samples without sargassum enrichment.
In response to the assertion made by Deputy Leader of the Opposition Joey Hew, the environment minister in the previous administration, that he had left a plan and equipment in place to address the sargassum problem, Wayne Panton said: “Sorry to disappoint people; there is no plan”.
What makes Panton’s statement an very strong indictment against his own PACTless Clown Car is that the sargassum issue is a recurring problem. Yes, past seaweed invasions may not have been at this magnitude, but as in all natural phenomena, one has to plan for the Big One. It is not as if this came out of the blue and has never been an issue before. Panton/PACTless had ample time to formulate a plan to address a sargassum invasion. How did Wayne “Mr. Environment” Panton get caught with his pants down on such a critical and entirely expected environmental issue? As with far-too-many critical issues, the Panton-PACTless Clown Car waits until an problem becomes horrid before beginning to take action. Not an ounce of pro-active forward thinking in the lot of them. A far more fitting moniker would be Wayne “Pants Down” Panton.
I get you don’t like PACT, and Panton pretending to be an environmentalist is indeed tiresome, but let’s not pretend Joey Hew had some elaborate plan to deal with this.
Salt?
You wash it with fresh water, then add it to compost. After a few weeks, you add it to your soil. By then, most of the salt content is gone.
Pumping will not work. They’ll spend half the day cleaning impellers and if it’s diaphragm, we’ll be here until next year.
Do what the Scotts did by the bacadare and get a large excavator with screened (heavy metal) bucket.
Use small boats to bring it in closer with booms.
it just might work…i do think that they will need small boats with booms/nets to bring the material to the pumps. Also ensure that the poor guy has on at least a wet suit.
Three Gully Sites Now Operational and Managed by Jamaica Crews
https://cleancurrentscoalition.org/three-gully-sites-now-operational-and-managed-by-jamaica-crews/
Three Interceptor™ Barriers are now deployed and operational at the mouths of Rae Town, Kingston Pen and Barnes gullies—in advance of the rainy season. In the first four months of operation, 5800 kg of waste has been collected.
Permanent garbage collector in Kingston Harbour, Jamaica
https://www.dutchwatersector.com/news/permanent-garbage-collector-in-kingston-harbour-jamaica
“Removing sargassum from fragile coastal ecosystems such as mangroves and seagrass beds is not only tricky but also expensive as it requires the use of specialized equipment. According to Hinds et al. (2016), one strategy to minimize the amount of seaweed reaching shore and accumulating in the shallows is “to divert sargassum away from sensitive areas or to funnel the weed into a nearshore collection area through the use of containment booms”. The containment booms used to help
deviate seaweed are temporary floating barriers such as the ones used to contain oil spills”
https://www.dcnanature.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/DCNA-Sargassum-Brief.pdf
As someone who has developed gastric issues and breathing difficulties after coming into very close contact with sargassum, I would strongly recommend that the government explore the issues surrounding the chemicals released by this decomposing algae.
It is known that sargassum can attract and hold arsenic, mercury, and cadmium, all known to be seriously damaging to human health. The stinking gas emitted is Hydrogen Sulfide and is both poisonous and combustible under certain circumstances, again, not good for human health, specifically respiratory complications.
The government know that it has a detrimental effect on humans, but have consistently tried to deflect these issues for the sake of shielding the tourist industry.
We need a full scientific investigation into the effects of sargassum and it’s potential to cause significant harm to the local population and its visitors.
And while they are at it, please submit the findings of the gases at the dump and what is being done about that perennial issue.
I hate to be negative, but when you look at the massive amount of sargassum, you have to feel a little like Sisyphus and his futile task. As soon as you remove some, there is an endless stream to take the place of what was removed.
Do you think these people even know who Sisyphus was?
Who you calling sissy?
Tell me you’re a prejudiced pos without telling me you’re a prejudiced pos.
I am not a prejudiced pos without telling you I am not a prejudiced pos.
don’t bring common sense into the discussion!….thats a no-no with cig and the civil service.
The producers of the TV program, Ridiculousness, will pay top dollars for a video clip of this nonsense. Unbelievable that we have politicians in power that would fall for this scam. have a much more cheaper and viable option. Buy 19 rakes, give each member one and they can stand on the shoreline and ‘rake it in’, much like whoever has the contract to do this will do.
Hope they’re dumping this in an adequately contained area since if the leachate from decomposition enters North Sound it will be a dead zone by this time next year. This is only removing it from NIMBY properties only to be stockpiled creating issues for someone and somewhere else.
I hope a somewhat solid cradle to grave solution is in the works but I doubt it, this is not how CIG works. As if we don’t have enough solid waste problems on land already.
The writing has been on the wall for nearly 5 years now, it’s the knock on effect of our warming oceans and polluted land runoff. And we are a fine example of one of the worst polluters per capita. Other regional jurisdictions poorer than us are already tackling the problem head on with success! But our slow, international junket loving politicians only like talking, eating and fiddling. Our dump is a metaphor for their fat, growing waistlines and wallets off conference food and side hustles. It’s disgusting how they love promoting our little rocks as world class with insufficient waste management infrastructure and ever dwindling natural flora and fauna. Greed has taken the place of stewardship for too many decades when it comes to our environment.
Rather than seeing this problem as what was to come and taking proactive preventative steps years ago they will of course blame the pandemic. This is going to get worse every year, it’s here to stay and we are behind and ever ballooning 8 ball. The surplus that Saunders was spouting about will be squandered in no time if they frivolously throw money at politically tied, buddy contractors.
And what timing, our new Ombudsman is watching this but will be gagged about reporting how the contracts are awarded and who holds stake in the firms. We’ll be skint, up the canal, neck deep and drowning in the stuff, out of time and without a paddle before they get serious.
heard the pump motor stopped after 45 seconds….
new motor now on order and will be here in 6-8 weeks …maybe.
thats because the pumping will not work.
a blind fool could tell you that.
Where is it going? There’s no sign of trucks or tanks in the pictures.
If this method uses sludge/trash pumps that do not have generous impeller clearances, a goodly portion of the sargassum ends up being damaged and shredded. The shredding will release nutrients and other substances into the discharge water. The substances released in the discharge can pose their own hazard to the near-shore marine environment. I trust the DOE is sampling the discharge water to ensure we are hot trading one problem for another.
My bet is this guy doesn’t make it to day 3 following skin irritation problems.
Are the vacuums safe to fish and turtles?
This has waste of public funds written all over it.
yep…but somebody who knows somebody is getting paid to fail…
What’s your solution? Leave it there to continue to stink up West Bay?
Better to keep your mouth closed than to criticize without offering any solutions.
WHY NOT PUSH THE SEAWEED BACK INTO THE OCEAN instead of piling it up inland ??
Get a fleet of those crazy fan boats from the Everglades and we will blow it back to the sea!
Push it back in the ocean? Push floating seaweed? OK genius – even if you could do that how would you stop it washing back in again?
Especially with the heavy metals like arsenic in the seaweed which will contaminate our ground and groundwater and then potentially impact our food-chain.
@7:06pm..What an ass!! So, push it back out to sea only for it to drift back in.. how do you think it got there in the first place?