Fighting Sargassum

A

AlterEgo

Guest
computer translated:

Countries join forces against sargassum

They agree to work on the creation of a "governance mechanism" that will be responsible for addressing the issue from a regional point of view

Mexico and 12 countries of Central America and the Caribbean agreed to integrate efforts to combat the arrival of sargassum to its coasts at the conclusion of a high-level meeting on Thursday in Cancun, a beach resort in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

During the sargasso summit, the 13 countries announced an ambitious program of regional cooperation on environmental protection that will be based on the creation of protocols and the exchange of information through an internet portal.

In a statement where they listed 26 agreements and proposals, they established a work plan that will culminate with a meeting next October in Guadalupe, a Caribbean island that is French territory.

They agreed to work on the creation of a "governance mechanism" that will take care of the sargasso issue from a regional point of view.

The countries will take the issue of sargassum to the Convention on Biological Biodiversity (CBD) with the aim of seeking international policies on this matter.

Read also: Invasion of sargassum to Caribbean beaches would increase this 2019

The problem of sargassum is due to the lack of information, the ignorance of the phenomenon and the myths and gaps that hinder the attention of the problem, said US researchers James S. Franks and Donald Johnson. from the University of Southern Mississippi, in a pre-closing conference.

Johnson said there are many unanswered questions and even frustration among the scientific community about the magnitude of the problem in the Caribbean region; "It's a big stain that grows exponentially, with a cyclical pattern that repeats every two years, with greater intensity," he said.

Franks explained that the sargassum that affects the region comes from Africa and not from Brazil, as was initially thought, and although marine currents cause higher concentrations in the Caribbean, it still affects continents such as Europe and Asia.

"There are characteristics of sargassum that are a true mystery for science, it is an asexual organism that by just dividing it allows it to form a new and enormous mass that has the capacity to double its size in a few days," he said.

"There are countries that know a lot and others, nothing"

Alejandra Navarrete, international legal adviser to Ocean Foundation, said that the meeting in Cancún will allow standardizing criteria and sharing information.

"There are very advanced countries, for example Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Martinique, which has a very advanced geographic information system on tracking sargassum, but there are others that have nothing," he said.

The hydrobiologist Esteban Amaro, from the Monitoring Network of Sargazo Cancun, considered that it is time for the Caribbean region to address the problem of sargassum in a more real and effective way. "It must be taken in its just dimension and its just dimension is that it is a titanic problem," he said.

The specialist asked the affected countries to address the problem in a timely manner and not only from the tourism perspective, since it considers that the environmental effects are more serious than initially thought.

Read also: Fertilizers, dishes, sink ... Sargassum solutions in the Caribbean

"We are damaging mangroves, coastal dunes, forests, we are damaging aquifers and all this has a tremendous ecological cost," the Mexican expert warned.

"There are characteristics of sargassum that are a true mystery for science, it is an asexual organism that by just dividing it allows it to form a new and enormous mass that has the capacity to double its size in a few days"
Donald Johnson, researcher at the University of Southern Mississippi


During the sargasso summit, the 13 countries announced an ambitious program of regional cooperation on environmental protection that will be based on the creation of protocols and the exchange of information through an internet portal.

https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...ses-unen-fuerzas-contra-el-sargazo-DB13219802
 
B

banzai

Guest
Seaweed is natural forming, plastic trash isn't. Too bad more can't be done to eradicate the latter.
 
C

Cdn_Gringo

Guest
Maybe when "they" are out scooping up mountains of floating seaweed they can snag a few plastic bottles at the same time.
 
Z

zoomzx11

Guest
I cannot imagine what one could do to reduce Sargassum.
What solutions have been proposed? Curious.
I am guessing you have the problem down there on the SW coast, eh
 
W

windeguy

Guest
Millions of dollars will be spent to fight this problem, but there is little that can be done to solve it.
 
W

windeguy

Guest
The problem of Sargassum in large quantities seems to be from pollution. It is one of nature's way of fighting back. Sargassum can cause ecological disasters in the quantities showing up on beaches. Of course it also cause economic disasters. I don't see how this is going to be stopped.
 
M

melphis

Guest
In December 2018 a massive island of it floated in right in front of the Sirenis Hotel. They had just finished their 100 million USD renovation and could not get rid of it in time for the grand opening. The pile that washed ashore was about 30" high and went out at least 5 feet. Sea water was trapped on the shore side and it smelled like a rotting sewer.

Of all the things that could go wrong I don't think they had any contingency plan for this. I live on the beach in that area and it was by far the worst I have ever seen. We talked with several guests at this hotel and a few others and most said they would never return to the DR because of this. We tired to explain that it was a very rare thing but who knows if they believed us.

I hope the island governments start some sort of awareness campaign that the seaweed is not always here but it does effect every Caribbean island and the gulf coast.
 
C

chico bill

Guest
The problem of Sargassum in large quantities seems to be from pollution. It is one of nature's way of fighting back. Sargassum can cause ecological disasters in the quantities showing up on beaches. Of course it also cause economic disasters. I don't see how this is going to be stopped.

It definitely has destroy the beach experience in Punta Cana, plain nasty there now
 
N

NALs

Guest
In December 2018 a massive island of it floated in right in front of the Sirenis Hotel. They had just finished their 100 million USD renovation and could not get rid of it in time for the grand opening. The pile that washed ashore was about 30" high and went out at least 5 feet. Sea water was trapped on the shore side and it smelled like a rotting sewer.

Of all the things that could go wrong I don't think they had any contingency plan for this. I live on the beach in that area and it was by far the worst I have ever seen. We talked with several guests at this hotel and a few others and most said they would never return to the DR because of this. We tired to explain that it was a very rare thing but who knows if they believed us.

I hope the island governments start some sort of awareness campaign that the seaweed is not always here but it does effect every Caribbean island and the gulf coast.
Even Miami is affected, including the international known South Beach. This video is from June 21, 2019.

 
Z

zoomzx11

Guest
In the past the south Florida beach towns had tractors that dragged and cleaned the beaches every morning at daylight.
Removed all the Sargassum and the trash.
Not a fix but a solution.
The big fancy hotels can easily afford tractors and trash haulers to carry away the weed.