an enormous massive seaweed
has grown to a staggering size
in the atlantic ocean, raising
concerns from scientists.
Researchers say this year's
bloom of seaweed his much
larger than previous seasons
and it's roughly twice the
width of the continental U.S..
Scientists are worried about
the environmental health impact
has the C would invades coastal
ecosystems and covers beaches
in the caribbean and gulf of
Mexico.
Researchers have found that
human activity and climate
change are fueling these
massive patches of seaweed.
Brian la pointe is a research
professor at Florida atlantic
hovered branch oceanographic
institute.
And he joins me now from fort
pierce in Florida.
Appreciate you being with us.
>> Thank you for the invite.
>> So a massive blob of seaweed
spanning 5000 miles is headed
straight for the Florida gulf
coast, so fast in fact ticket
it can be seen from space.
When do you expected to hit the
coast and what might this
signal for the critical spring
break in the summer months
ahead?
>> Well, the so-called blob of
seaweed is the seaweed floating
sarcasm in the tropical
anacostia.
That is what we call the great
atlantic sarcasm belt.
That sargassum seaweed is
moving towards the west and
will proceed to move towards
the caribbean and up in the
gulf of Mexico in south Florida
area in the coming months.
We typically hit the peak of
that seaweed arriving in
Florida around mid summer July
is usually when it peaks.
>> I think I have been there
when it has arrived.
So why are we seeing such a
massive blob of seaweed at this
time?
What is causing it and how big
a threat does it pose to
residents and to see life.
>> Well, this is an unusual
life in that this sargassum
bloomed in the great atlantic
sargassum belt.
It started early, doubled in
size between December and
January in one month it doubled
in size, and was larger in
January than it has ever been
since's new region of sargassum
growth began in 2011.
This is an entirely new
oceanographic phenomenon.
Previous them previously, the
sargassum was in the sargasso
sea to the north.
That is a central gyre of the
atlantic ocean.
He was circulating in the
currents around that between
the caribbean and the gulf of
Mexico.
This is a whole new thing.
This is the source of this
sargassum seaweed that is
creating such a problem, really
a catastrophic problem for
tourism in the caribbean region
where a piles up on beaches, up
to five or six feet deep on the
beaches in some places in fact.
In Barbados just last week they
reported, they need 1600 dump
trucks a day to clean the
beaches of the seaweed to make
it suitable for tourists and
recreation on the beaches.
And you know, where it comes
ashore in the main groves, it
comes in and such large
quantities that it basically
sucks the oxygen out of the
water and creates what we refer
to as dead Zones.
These are normally nursery
habitats for fisheries and once
they are devoid of oxygen, we
have lost that habitat.
They are also harmful to sea
grasses and coral reefs and
obviously to human health as
well, because when they're rot
they release toxic hydrogen
sulfide gas.
They've a high concentration of
arsenic, so we have to be very
careful when you clean the
beaches and try to re-use this
for fertilizers or some other
beneficial use.
>> So what solutions are
available to stop these massive
seaweed invasions?
Is there anything that can be
done to disperse or break it up
or do we just need to do what
you suggested, basically taking
away truckloads of the seaweed?
>> Well, at this point that's
all we can do.
Efforts are being made in the
caribbean to construct spoons
to hold it off the beach and to
get harvesting boats to run
along those dunes and harvest
it into barges where could be
taken to land to a suitable
disposal site and dry and
perhaps used for some purpose.
Or a new project is looking at
actually harvesting it at sea
and sinking it to the bottom of
the ocean.
And in that way sequestering
carbon that is used by
photosynthesis in the seaweed,
sending it to the bottom of the
sea where it will be buried and
in that way sequester that
carbon to kind of chip away at