IMHO your statement is true for anywhere in the world…population is growing land stays same size..
- Thread starter melphis
- Start date
Seaweed is back
Cabarete last Saturday - enough seaweed to keep most bathers out of the water in the afternoon
Thanks pal. I was merely trying to provide some relevant info, to add to the discussion.
I should have known better
Thank you for letting us know. Many do not think of the North Coast as having a seaweed issue.
None in Sosua on playa Sosua or playa Alicia.
If there is some in Cabarete...does that mean there is also some in Samana?
Let's hope it doesn't work its way here from Punta Cana. The seaweed could doom the return visitors.
You think DR tourism would show video of seaweed covered beaches on TV spots up North ?
I took several trips to AI hotels in Punta Cana, but after I drove over there a couple years ago I swore I would not return until it was gone.
Hopefully it does leave but I suspect it might be a permanent feature
Some resorts do clean their stretch of the beach every morning (the Riu resorts do this), but most don't. There should be a law obligating resorts to clean the stretch of beach next to their properties. Any resort that doesn 't do this is subject to a fee per day the beach remains with the seaweed. The third time the fee is applied, the resort should be confiscated and auctioned to other interested hotel companies Dominican or elsewhere.
Otherwise, the whole Punta Cana region can kiss its sun and sand tourism good bye. Stinky seaweed could do what bad publicity didn't.
This leaves the issue of resorts next to a beach with no resorts. In that case (think of the Hard Rock Resort in Macao), walking down the beach could be a problem. In places with wall-to-wall resorts, which is most of Bávaro beach, it would be clean again if such a law is put in effect.
I think the government makes enough money it is in their own interest to do the cleaning.
The hotels aren't to blame for the seaweed it's mother nature. After the blow from Covid many hotels are likely underwater financially and getting equipment for each hotel to clean their section would be astronomical for all but the richest resorts.
Sounds like a business opportunity to me. I'm surprised nobody has jumped on it yet.
A fee like helmet laws, drinking while driving, etc?
The resorts do not own the beach in the DR. The public does up to the 60 meter mark. Why should private businesses be forced to clean public areas?
I don't think they should be forced but it is in their interests. Like JD said earlier, I'm surprised someone hasn't developed a business for that and contracted with the different resorts to clean on a daily or as needed basis.
Exactly. Once the law exist, no company can contest when authorities levy a fee on them for breaking it. As of right now, a resort is penalized for not cleaning the beach and they can contest it in court. As of right now, the government can't expropriate their properties due to a dirty beach either.
Any expat that enters as a tourist and overstays the 30-days allowed knows how well penalty fees are imposed.
For the same reason private homes and businesses in New York are forced to keep clean the sidewalks in front of them everytime it snows, ice, etc. Anyone slips on the ice in the sidewalk, falls and break a hip, and you are the most likely culprit to be sued despite the sidewalk belongs to the government.
The hotels in Uvero Alto (20 miles from PC) normally do a great job cleaning the seaweed. Some days there is just so much they can't keep up and it takes a few days. The one that does the best job is Breathless. Most days you wouldn't know there is a seaweed problem as they keep on top of it.
Practical and creative uses of sargassum seaweed in the Caribbean - Villa del Palmar Cancun News
Mexican entrepreneurs and brands have used to good advantage the arrival of sargassum to create different kinds of products with it.
www.villapalmarcancun.com
Turning Mexico’s seaweed problem into a sustainable business
An influx of slimy sargassum seaweed has been blighting Mexico’s Caribbean beaches, but new innovation has found smart ways to make it pay.
www.raconteur.net
Inexpensive process converts waste seaweed into biofuel, fertilizer and more
Thanks to factors such as agricultural fertilizer runoff, Sargassum seaweed is growing out of control in many regions – it washes up on beaches in huge amounts. Utilizing a new technique, that rotting organic matter could soon be converted into biofuels and other products.
newatlas.com
Sargassum blooms in the Atlantic Ocean – From a burden to an asset
Recently there has been a significant increase in the amount and frequency of seaweed blooms of the holopelagic brown macroalgae Sargassum fluitans an…
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