MIAMI, Fla. — Less than a month ago, a belt of sargassum seaweed made its way to Florida shores. While this happens every year, this year, we were already hitting record numbers.
And it’s not even peak season.
You may have seen the seaweed. It’s got an orange-brown color and a known stink, thanks to the harmful chemicals it releases when decomposing.
And yet, it continues to wash ashore by the tons.
“It’s already created a lot of problems for local people for tourism, for the economy, for corals, for coral reefs, for seagrass, turtles, and for people,” shared Dr. Chuanmin Hu.
Dr. Hu is a Professor of Oceanography at the University of South Florida. He says this algae belt is not a new thing.
The belt comes from the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean. Back in 2011, experts started to see more and more blobs of seaweed wash upon Florida shores.
This March, the belt has broken a record, seeing the highest amount ever recorded for that month at 13 million metric tons.
While the number is jarring, Dr. Hu said the belt in its entirety only covers about .1% of the ocean’s surface.
“This amount is not in one location. It’s spread all over the Tropical Atlantic. It’s a huge area. It’s 5 million kilometers in that area,” Dr. Hu said.
Typically, more seaweed gathers in Florida in the summer months. But areas all across Florida have already seen the algae collecting on their shores.
In Broward County last year, they collected roughly 282 yards of seaweed. Compared to the same time this year, so far, they have collected 920 yards.
Since March in Miami-Dade, they’ve collected close to 5,000 cubic yards.
Since the beginning of April, areas across the Panhandle have also seen the seaweed, which begs the question: can we prevent the seaweed from coming ashore?
“It’s possible. It’s just a factor of benefit versus cost,” Dr. Hu said.
Miami-Dade County told me they paid roughly $3.9 million dollars to remove the seaweed.
Broward County composts its collections, which saves them about 350 thousand dollars annually. But it’s still a fiscal burden for the local government and tourism.
This is why researchers like Dr. Hu are trying to understand why more of it is blooming.
“Seaweed is a plant, as with other plants, it requires light, nutrients, and the right temperature to grow. In the Tropical Atlantic Ocean, all these conditions are there. So why do we see an increasing trend in recent years? There are a lot of factors. No one can really pinpoint one factor, you know that is the killer.”
But one thing researchers do know is that while it’s hard to predict what may happen next, this trend of more and more algae in Florida is likely to continue.
“This represents a new normal compared to ten years ago, and people need to be prepared.”
USF researchers continue to follow the belt’s trajectory and growth. You can visit optics.marine.usf.edu.
