Rita P. Says:
I’ve heard that Belize, and the Caribbean in general, has a problem with sargassum seaweed. Is this true? What’s being done about it?
IL Belize Correspondent Shane Kenny Says:
Hi Rita,
In years gone by, sargassum was an every-few-years occurrence here in Belize. Sure, there was some sargassum that drifted ashore each year, but it was only every few years that it came in large amounts.
When it did, our normally white, sandy beaches were covered in a greenish-brown seaweed that could be up to several feet deep. A few weeks of cleanup later, the beaches were back to normal and life went on.
In recent years, for reasons that are passionately debated by the locals in the scientific journal known as Facebook, sargassum has been arriving in Belize in large amounts every year. We never know how much of it we will get or where it will come ashore… We just know it will come sometime between February and June.
But, as each year passes, we’re getting better at dealing with it.
For instance, we have known that burying the sargassum eliminates the smell created as it starts to decompose. Last year, the Placencia Village Council discovered that getting it out of the water and up on the beach to dry in the sun also eliminates most of the odor.
They employed teams of people to work the beach each day with pitchforks, pulling the sargassum out of the water and up onto the beach. Later, once it had dried, they’d come back, collect it, and carry it away or bury it.
The Village Council alone cannot keep up. With one mile of beach under their purview and very little in the way of financial resources, the task is just too big.
But the community has pulled together. Lots of people have turned out to help with cleanup. Those that physically cannot have made donations, allowing the Village Council to hire someone in their place.
Businesses not located on the beach have sent their employees over to lend a hand. But, by far, the biggest help is when beachfront businesses take responsibility for the beach directly in front of them, and work to keep it clean.
We can’t snap our fingers and make the sargassum problem go away (although we wish we could). But by working together we’ve been able to turn it into a mere annoyance—and come together as a community at the same time.
Got a Question?
Send your thoughts to mailbag@internationalliving.com. We’ll post and respond to as many of your emails as we can right here in the e-letter.