Tourism Minister David Collado: Unite to find solution to sargassum

[Dolores]

Minister of Tourism David Collado called for the countries to unify to find solutions to sargassum the same way as the world united to combat Covid-19. He said so far there is no solution and favored that the solution be found in the oceans, before the problem reaches the coasts. “The only way that a solution will be found is if all the countries that are affected, and those that have the capacities and the technologies to find a solution, collaborate in solidarity with us,” said Collado when speaking at the World Tourism Organization Executive Council meeting in Punta Cana on 17 May 2023.

“We have more than a decade talking about sargassum as if it was a topic. This is not a topic. It is an existential threat to our industry… so strong, so dangerous and as serious as Covid-19,” he said when speaking during the International Forum on Sustainable Tourism at the WTO...

Continue reading...

 

[Kipling333]

More words and no action ..It would not be too difficult to send out some boats with nets to pull out the various small areas of sargassum that currently are floating around the SE coast.

 

[william webster]

I think it's the 5 mile stretch that worries them..... might need a Navy or two for that !!

 

[drstock]

I read that there is a French company that is going to start making a sort of cardboard out of it.

 

[Manuel01]

In the end they will build special ships for removal like the ones they operate against oil spill. But that will take several years and a huge investment. Only after tourism really takes a hard hit, they will act. and than it will be to little, to late.

 

[Kipling333]

It is the same old story ..never fix a little problem until it becomes a big problem..even collecting the small amount of sargassum would be better than doing nothing except talk

 

[bob saunders]

Most people, especially governments are reactive instead of proactive. Perhaps it's human nature.

 

[PJT]

The ridding of the sargassum intrusion is beyond the abilities of governments at this time to arrest the growth and movement of the rafts of seaweed. All that can be done is to lessen the impact is to place exclusion booms along popular beaches and the use beach rakes. No pun intended, the fight against sargassum is like shoveling shi* against the tide.

The fight can be compared to the behavior of many Dominican households of the chore of sweeping and washing down the sidewalks in front of their homes each morning. Well... the sargassum plague has reached the level of the daily cleaning of sidewalks, whether we like it or not.

Regards,

PJT

 

[Kipling333]

Yes PJT, but I was not talking about the island of sargassum that is of the cold climate variety and which has been in the Sargasso Sea for centuries but to the variety that thrives in the tropics and which has, of recent years, become a nuisance to some people who wish to lie on the beach in exotic resorts. This variety is found floating around the tropics in medium size density and can be controlled in my opinion.I think that your suggestion of booms in the ocean to stop it infringing on the pleasure of hotel guests is by far the best because sargassum has some wonderful contributions to nature .it is a breeding ground for many varieties of fishes and other marine life and finally when it sinks it provides food for all creatures living in the water. It has been written that this variety of sargassum has increased in recent years because of all the fertiliser that gets into the Amazon River and then into the ocean. I have travelled twice along the Amazon River and there is no doubt that the mouth of the river , which is over 200 miles wide is filthy and contains all sorts of natural and man made substances but there is little agriculture along the banks of the Amazon that would use large amounts of fertiliser so it must come from tributaries if the theory is correct.
At present there are scientists trying to work out how best this sargassum can be controlled by something that attacks the algae and there are also companies working on how they can use the sargassum in the commercial world .
My suggestion is to collect the various small outbreaks of sargassum with a vessel permanently doing this job until a better solution is found and that may be booms in selected areas.

 

[Regan]

We don't have an Amazon river, full of run-off fertilizer. We have failing septic systems that flush tons of partially processed human waste on all coasts of our island. If it doesn't flow from one of the few treatment plants, it goes from the colaca to a pozo and ends up in subterranean water systems that flow to the coast. It's amazing how towers have more and more toilets, but I've yet to see a new sewer line being installed. Check those hotels on the Malecon...

 

[Kipling333]

I agree with you Regan. A few years ago there were several threads here about raw untreated sewerage going directly into the ocean from the hotels on The Malecon.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

Unite against sargassum! 🙄

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

We don't have an Amazon river, full of run-off fertilizer. We have failing septic systems that flush tons of partially processed human waste on all coasts of our island. If it doesn't flow from one of the few treatment plants, it goes from the colaca to a pozo and ends up in subterranean water systems that flow to the coast. It's amazing how towers have more and more toilets, but I've yet to see a new sewer line being installed. Check those hotels on the Malecon...

This is why Cabarete Bay is a cesspool. I've said this in so many occasions. Some swimmer friends have indicated over time how you swim out just far enough you'll have to turn around from the putrid waters. All that crap floats east from Puerto Puta. I also think they were dumping feces off shore for a while. If you walk down far enough to Lifestyles area there is always a special accumulation of brown putrid water and garbage. Not your father's puta and palm tree dream after all!

 

[flyinroom]

The malecon has nothing on the output of dubious "aguas negras" finding their way to sea off the eastern coast.
Punta Cana/Bavaro.
I shudder to think of all those rooms and all those people...and all that output.
Having said that...
Pollution of all sorts seeping into the sea is the responsibility of every country on the planet.
All are guilty of contributing to the problem.
The solution will inevitably lie at the source..
Eliminating or reducing that which is feeding the sargassum will go a long way to solving the explosion of the nasty weed.
Is it possible?
They do say that...
Where there is a will there is a way.
I guess we'll see.

 

[Gadfly]

….. you'll have to turn around from the putrid waters. All that crap floats east from Puerto Puta.

How can that be, the ocean current runs east to west.

 

[bob saunders]

The malecon has nothing on the output of dubious "aguas negras" finding their way to sea off the eastern coast.
Punta Cana/Bavaro.
I shudder to think of all those rooms and all those people...and all that output.
Having said that...
Pollution of all sorts seeping into the sea is the responsibility of every country on the planet.
All are guilty of contributing to the problem.
The solution will inevitably lie at the source..
Eliminating or reducing that which is feeding the sargassum will go a long way to solving the explosion of the nasty weed.
Is it possible?
They do say that...
Where there is a will there is a way.
I guess we'll see.

Exactly , when I lived in Victoria BC in the 1970's they used to dump the sewage in the ocean from a pipe that was in 100 feet of water a mile from shore. You couldn't see it but it was still happening.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

How can that be, the ocean current runs east to west.

Well where is the stuff coming from and why does it accumulate East?

 

[Tarheel]

I read that there is a French company that is going to start making a sort of cardboard out of it.

They can put their stinky cheese in them.

 

[RDKNIGHT]

actually the problem is not that bad this year and Punta Cana

 

[Regan]

The malecon has nothing on the output of dubious "aguas negras" finding their way to sea off the eastern coast.
Punta Cana/Bavaro.
I shudder to think of all those rooms and all those people...and all that output.
Having said that...
Pollution of all sorts seeping into the sea is the responsibility of every country on the planet.
All are guilty of contributing to the problem.
The solution will inevitably lie at the source..
Eliminating or reducing that which is feeding the sargassum will go a long way to solving the explosion of the nasty weed.
Is it possible?
They do say that...
Where there is a will there is a way.
I guess we'll see.

The malecon has nothing on the output of dubious "aguas negras" finding their way to sea off the eastern coast.
Punta Cana/Bavaro.
It's the same problem, different coasts. Too many nutrients from too many people.