active against Seaweed.

Aug 6, 2006
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Seaweed makes excellent fertilizer.. There is a lot of it washing asore from the Sargasso Sea at Barahona. It stinks up the beaches, they say.
 

Meemselle

Just A Few Words
Oct 27, 2014
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You should rinse it lightly and then you can dry it and compost it or you can whirl it all into a disgusting liquid and use it as liquid fertilizer. Lots of nitrogen.
 

chic

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Nov 20, 2013
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wow i remember as a child my mom would ask me to help her gather. then at home we would dry it...next day put it away in the middle of winter she would take it out of storage and put it in a tub/bathtub for a soaking...a salt soak...said it was a delite...and i know that salt water cures...
 

MikeFisher

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Feb 28, 2006
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yes, it can be used as fertilizer, but the demand for such is just a very small fraction of what gets washed ashore since 4-5 years throughout the caribbean and the USA.
it is devastating for the tourism industry all around.
on it's prior "normal" amounts it is a very appreciated/necessary stabilizer for beaches, makes them stronger against the dangers of landloss to the ocean,
but the amounts grew the last years to quantities far beyond any use for it.
even taking it away from the beaches is at times impossible due the high amount washed ashore.
it damages corals, and when taken from the beaches by machines/tractors etc too much sand is also taken away with it on daily bases, destabilizing the beaches powers against the oceans sand robberies.
the new way is to keep it from reaching the shores in too high amounts, and let thru the naturally necessary amounts.
there are many studies and experiemnts on the theme since years, but scientists are still on the basics.

Mike
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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yes, it can be used as fertilizer, but the demand for such is just a very small fraction of what gets washed ashore since 4-5 years throughout the caribbean and the USA.
it is devastating for the tourism industry all around.
on it's prior "normal" amounts it is a very appreciated/necessary stabilizer for beaches, makes them stronger against the dangers of landloss to the ocean,
but the amounts grew the last years to quantities far beyond any use for it.
even taking it away from the beaches is at times impossible due the high amount washed ashore.
it damages corals, and when taken from the beaches by machines/tractors etc too much sand is also taken away with it on daily bases, destabilizing the beaches powers against the oceans sand robberies.
the new way is to keep it from reaching the shores in too high amounts, and let thru the naturally necessary amounts.
there are many studies and experiemnts on the theme since years, but scientists are still on the basics.

Mike

Mike, in early May we saw tons of this floating all along the southern coast, they looked like huge brownish globs all bunched together. Several Dominicans who were hired to clean up our beach got itchy rashes from it.

Is this what you're seeing on the east coast? As XO mentioned, someone said it comes from the Sargasso Sea???
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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at your service. we have a lot of that in costambar too, towards the port. it has tons or really tiny, annoying flies.
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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No need to spend any money on a barrier, that won't work, and be an ecological disaster anyway.
I have seen the same situation on USA east coast beaches for decades.
In areas where it is a nusance, like public beaches, you see a tractor pulling a huge "Rake" down the beach at dawn, cleaning up the unwanted seaweed.
That would be an easy, cheap solution here as well.
There are a dozen things that can then nbe done with the "Weed"!

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
 

MikeFisher

The Fisherman/Weather Mod
Feb 28, 2006
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Mike, in early May we saw tons of this floating all along the southern coast, they looked like huge brownish globs all bunched together. Several Dominicans who were hired to clean up our beach got itchy rashes from it.

Is this what you're seeing on the east coast? As XO mentioned, someone said it comes from the Sargasso Sea???

of course it is the same what you see on the southcoast, or the eastshores, or the north, or in Texas, Florida, any other island etc.
it is what comes from the Sargasso Sea, thats where it has its name from.
it was always around, but not in the unusual amounts as it comes in since the last half decade, and frightenly rising amounts year by year.

Mike
 

MikeFisher

The Fisherman/Weather Mod
Feb 28, 2006
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No need to spend any money on a barrier, that won't work, and be an ecological disaster anyway.
I have seen the same situation on USA east coast beaches for decades.
In areas where it is a nusance, like public beaches, you see a tractor pulling a huge "Rake" down the beach at dawn, cleaning up the unwanted seaweed.
That would be an easy, cheap solution here as well.
There are a dozen things that can then nbe done with the "Weed"!

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

that's how it always was done with the unwanted parts, specially on the swimming beaches and along hotelareas. here the same as in the USA, just that most in DR did it by manual/Menlabour, but the same effects.
Todays, just look up the reports about the US Gulf Coast as just one example, the machines can not handle it at all, the amounts are much more than could be used for anything or stored to rotten down naturally anywhere.
btw, the raking machines are proofed to hide the danger to significant beach damage, as they also take significant sand amounts away. the sand and a certain portion of seaweed is necessary to strengthen the beaches/sanddunes etc against the Ocean's tides. machinery cleaned beaches came out to be the weakest and show the negative effects.
you are right,
Barriers can not be brought up all around, itwould produce superlarge amounts along the barriers, killing Ocean Wildlife along those lines, stopping reefs to breath etc. and anyways, a certain amount of the grass should always be allowed to reach the beaches and stay there to naturally break down as part of natures Beach-Defense-meachanisms.
Barriers are for portions of beachstretches, they are consipated to let around a 5th of the oncoming grass thru.
what has to be done with the 80% left in the barriers/areas around the barriers, is a point which i still did not read a suitable solution to.
just to keep it away from the beaches without proactive action about "how to handle it there at the barriers", total agreement, it would be a destroyer for the ocean's health within a very short time frame.
hence small areas are prepared by scientists to get experience and new ideas about the handling of the stuff.
one such area is planned to be in Punta Cana, run by Grupo Punta Cana along their Punta Blanca Beachmiles.
the experimental barrier is planned for a quarter beachmile.

Mike
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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of course it is the same what you see on the southcoast, or the eastshores, or the north, or in Texas, Florida, any other island etc.
it is what comes from the Sargasso Sea, thats where it has its name from.
it was always around, but not in the unusual amounts as it comes in since the last half decade, and frightenly rising amounts year by year.

Mike

Until I saw the photo in the article dv8 posted, I wasn't sure. Where I grew up, seaweed was green and leafy and wrapped around your ankles. Those masses of brown were a first for me.
 

keepcoming

Moderator - Living & General Stuff
May 25, 2011
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We have had friends and family vacation in the Punta Cana area this year and they say they think it is the worst they have seen. Their photos look just like Frank's only worse. They do say that the resorts were doing their best to keep up with it. I guess I have been lucky in the times we went. There were times there was "alittle" bit but not like the photos I have seen this year. Funny, we have friends near Toronto and every time close to their annual vacation they start asking "how is the weather" (I am sure Mike probably gets the same question many times) only this year they were asking how is the seagrass/seaweed.
 

MikeFisher

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We have had friends and family vacation in the Punta Cana area this year and they say they think it is the worst they have seen. Their photos look just like Frank's only worse. They do say that the resorts were doing their best to keep up with it. I guess I have been lucky in the times we went. There were times there was "alittle" bit but not like the photos I have seen this year. Funny, we have friends near Toronto and every time close to their annual vacation they start asking "how is the weather" (I am sure Mike probably gets the same question many times) only this year they were asking how is the seagrass/seaweed.

haha
yeah, people ask "how is the weather" a couple weeks or even further prior to their arrival.
as if today's weather could be a indicator for the weather in 2-3 days or such, lol.
i live since a good 20 years in PC, i live right on a beach, a calm beach bay.
over all the higher amounts of Sargasum started to be present around the caribbean, the gulf of mexico, along the SE of the USA, around 5 years ago.
since 3 years/3rd summer now it is very obvious to me, and every year get's well more than the prior year.
i am not picky, would not mind to walk over some seagrass to reach the water, i don't mind some of it swimming of the water, as it is part of the Ocean, it is a significant part of the Ocean's Ecosystem.
but since a while, to reach the water a day after ALL been completely cleaned up, it is often necessary to "climb lil hills" of seagrass. and anyways, at those times the carpets of grass in the water swimming right at the beach, take anyways any desire of swimming in the water, away.
it really is bad, and it is not some kinda regional thingy around the DR or such, it is happening all around.

Mike