Piles of smelly seaweed are arriving on Florida beaches: How bad will it get?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Waves filled with sargassum continue washing up on beaches in the Caribbean Sea and southern Florida and the stacks of seaweed are expected to get worse in the weeks ahead.

A record abundance of the seaweed was seen on satellite images in the Caribbean in April, the University of South Florida's Optical Oceanography Lab said in a monthly update released this week.

The seaweed set a record in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt in March, but the university said the overall quantity in the belt − which stretches from west Africa to the Gulf of Mexico − remained roughly the same in April, probably because of persistent clouds.

Sargassum drifts westward in the Atlantic with prevailing winds and currents, floating in the water into the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Since 2011, the sargassum has reached epic proportions each summer, fluctuating from year to year and place to place.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/piles-of-smelly-seaweed-are-arriving-on-florida-beaches-how-bad-will-it-get/ar-AA1aGGCy

DeSantis and Donny boy need to take a big whiff.

[PJMcK]

1. We were in the Keys a few weeks ago

The sargassum was on the beaches and shorelines. It was also prominent offshore.

It’s quite smelly!

[randr]

2. Probably won't match the stink

coming from the Governors office.

[Srkdqltr]

3. You think nature has it in for Florida?

[ret5hd]

5. Sign from dawg.

[MagickMuffin]

4. Is this seaweed edible? Researched it

If so harvest it!


As food

Japanese cuisine as well as Chile have traditionally consumed Sargassum, known as hijiki, although it contains high amounts of arsenic, part of the arsenic cycle from groundwater, waterways, into oceans and back to land. There are methods to process and greatly reduce arsenic from this genus of seaweed, potentially making it a nearly inexhaustible food supply for animals or people.

[mitch96]

9. I'm thinking fertilizer. or biofuel or animal feed? Less the arsenic of course..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaweed_fertiliser#:~:text=As%20a%20soil%20conditioner%2C%20seaweed,soluble%20alginates%20found%20in%20seaweed.

[SWBTATTReg]

6. Why isn't the governor of FL doing something about this? Has he chartered boats to scoop

up the seaweed and prevent it from coming onto the beaches? What, if anything, is he doing about this?

[leftyladyfrommo]

8. It's huge. Something like 5,000 miles of the stuff

I can't remember exactly but there are miles of it.

[SWBTATTReg]

10. Whoa! A little larger than I realized. Wow, just wow. NT

[womanofthehills]

16. I read they were cleaning up the beaches, but it keeps coming

Sounds like they need to remove it every few days. The cannot remove it from the sea as it’s a cover for many species.

“ “This floating habitat provides food and protection for fishes, mammals, marine birds, crabs, and more,” according to the Sargassum Information Hub, a joint project among various research institutions. “It serves as a critical habitat for threatened loggerhead sea turtles and as a nursery area for a variety of commercially important fishes such as mahi mahi, jacks, and amberjacks.” https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/sargassum-seaweed-blob-explained-florida-scn/index.html



Also, they didn’t make much of a plan as to where to take it. I read they are doing some studies on maybe turning it into compost - but not quite there yet - so most likely going to landfills- but not fast enough. Piles of it are near beaches & the smell is bad. Sensitive people can get congested, have breathing problems around it.

[SWBTATTReg]

18. Thanks so much for the information. Wow, this is something that we in the midwest don't visualize,

when such large masses of seaweed impact coastal areas. This one apparently is a monster! Thanks again.

[SYFROYH]

7. If I recall correctly, this seaweed patch provides a lot of cover for baby sea turtles

I wonder if this will lead an increased population of sea turtles.

[Norbert]

11. I see another book tour happening soon.

[MineralMan]

12. Just load it all into dump trucks and leave it on the driveway

wherever the freaking Governor lives.

[mcar]

14. I'd contribute to that effort

[SWBTATTReg]

19. ha ha heh...I got a chuckle out of this...ha ha heh...

[pecosbob]

13. Freeport Texas was inundated with this stuff...IIRC it lasted about ten years

[ZonkerHarris]

15. Gonna have to tell DeSantis the seaweed is gay & Latino and trying to sneak into the country for

him to try to get rid of it.

[FSogol]

20. Desantis will put some on a plane and send it to Martha's Vinyards. Problem solved!

[malaise]

17. Aka

DeSargassum 😀😀😀😀👨

[icymist]

21. It's God's way of saying "Your anti-trans laws stink so now Florida stinks"

In a language that the fundies will understand. But then, they probably will not.

[videohead5]

22. It goes right with

The big pile of smelly stuff setting in the governor's office.