Sargassum

A report on the effects of sargassum and management proposals in Quintana Roo, Mexico, and Belize was presented to stakeholders in San Pedro Town on Saturday, October 28th, at the Sunbreeze Hotel. Dr. Minerva Arce-Ibarra, a scientist with the non-profit Ecosur, presided over the informational session.

Every year, the influx of the seaweed known as Sargassum brings challenges to the tourism industry in Belize, particularly San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, one of the country’s leading destinations. With the increasing threat to the beaches and coasts, the San Pedro Town Council (SPTC) had considered a project to turn the seaweed into construction blocks. The project known as SargaBlocks has reportedly been done in parts of Mexico, and in April of this year, the plans to work with a Mexican company were well in advance. However, with the decrease in the seaweed’s presence, the SPTC has now walked away from such a venture, and the SargaBlocks idea was abandoned.

The Sargassum situation continues to affect Caribbean nations like Belize, which harms tourism. Stakeholders in places like San Pedro, Ambergris have joined the municipality in hiring labor to clean the beaches, but it has not been enough. The manual work even adds to the beach erosion, and it is hard to keep up with the daily influx. To get ahead of the game, Las Terrazas Resort north of San Pedro Town has acquired a special beach rake that can remove the rotting seaweed while leaving the sand behind.

The beaches of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, and others across the country experience a yearly heavy influx of the brown algae known as Sargassum. It is an inconvenience making the shoreline unattractive with the rotten seaweed threatening the local tourism industry and the environment. While stakeholders and the San Pedro Town Council (SPTC) have made extraordinary efforts to keep the beaches free of seaweed, it has been quite a challenge. As such, Taly Corporation, a company doing business on the island, has acquired a heavy equipment/machine known as Surf Rake dedicated to cleaning up the island’s shores from debris and the main culprit, Sargassum.

The new wave of Sargassum influx at the beginning of this year threatens the tourism industry across Belize. Some stakeholders and the San Pedro Town Council (SPTC) have been conducting clean-ups in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, but it is not enough. To alleviate the concern, Mayor Gualberto ‘Wally’ Nunez has been discussing the problem with Mexican entrepreneur Omar Vasquez, founder of SargaBlocks, to possibly make building blocks from Sargassum and use them in an upcoming beautification project.

The beaches of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, as those across the country, are again choking with the heavy influx of the brown algae known as Sargassum. It has become an inconvenience making the shoreline unattractive with the rotten seaweed and threatening the local tourism industry. The Hol Chan Marine Reserve (HCMR) is securing a $3.5 million loan from the Social Security Board (SSB) to address the situation. Some consider this move by HCMR frivolous and that the Government of Belize should bear the expense. The Hol Chan management, however, explained the need for the loan and what the project was all about.

Island residents are growing concerned about the massive influx of Sargassum beaching on the coast of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. In some areas, thick blankets of the well-known brown seaweed are over a hundred feet from the shore. Some stakeholders see the vast amount of algae as a threat to the tourism industry and are urging the respective authorities to address the issue. The San Pedro Town Council (SPTC) has responded by hiring more people to remove Sargassum from the most affected areas, like the beaches in the downtown area.

Sargassum seaweed influxes have been a bane to the Caribbean since 2011, but the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) and Plant & Food Research (PFR), a New Zealand government-owned Crown Research Institute, are advancing a regional project aimed at turning Sargassum into innovative products that will create jobs and income as well as contribute to building the region’s climate resilience and mitigating the negative impacts of Sargassum in the region. During 2023, the CRFM and Plant & Food Research —in partnership with other public and private sector institutions in the Caribbean region—will focus on lab-scale work and field trials to develop suitable prototype products from the Sargassum seaweed for commercial use.