THE PROLIFERATION of the species sargassum flotans across the Caribbean is a regional problem and should therefore be tackled with a regional approach.
I trust the recent Heads of Government Conference has produced a strong protest to take to the polluter nations of the world.
The latest threat is methane leakage in the atmosphere. If a gas is allowed to leak into the air before being used – from leaky pipes, for instance – it absorbs the sun’s heat, warming the atmosphere. For this reason it’s considered a greenhouse gas, like carbon dioxide.
The Gulf Stream is a powerful, warm and swift northward accelerating ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida. It follows the eastern coastlines of North America before crossing the Atlantic.
The Greater and Lesser Antilles are washed by a different clockwise circulation, centred on the Sargasso Sea.
This sea has been found to be saltier and warmer than its surrounding waters, perhaps causing sailing conditions across it to be unpredictable. Nowadays travellers through the Sargasso Sea are shocked by the estimated 8 000 to 10 000 floating plastic pieces per square mile entangled with the weed we call sargassum flotans.
The waste improperly disposed by countries in the Atlantic ends up sucked into the Sargasso Sea by its circulating currents and this has severely disrupted ocean life. The floating plastic, paper and marine debris is only the visible part of the harmful waste material that accumulates there below the surface.
So far, there is no action to arrest the contamination of the Sargasso Sea. All we hear is that there are “concerns” regarding the ever increasing rate of human pollution.
The story gets worse, because the seaweed is not just “coming from somewhere”. The mats are now actually growing as it circulates, nourished by a warming Caribbean basin and by an elevated concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
A devil grass that takes root in your garden will spread rapidly given the ideal growing conditions, unless it is eradicated or consumed by some other living organism. We can try a selective chemical weedicide in our yard but it would have to be “dusted” in considerably stronger concentrations to deal with our toxin-resistant floating turf.
Surface-water controlled incineration to break up large entangled masses of Sargassum weed might be considered as well. Oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico mix flammable chemical with their crude-oil spills, boom (or trawl) it together so the oil is sufficiently concentrated and then they set the sea afire.
The huge fused streams of weed can be corralled with trawling nets, taken out into the mid-Atlantic Ocean and set afire. An expensive programme for one nation alone to undertake, and no doubt harmful to some marine life – the sargassum itself is full of life – but some form of controlled treatment would slow down the new growth that is sweeping across the region, getting larger as it goes and destroying coastal economies.
A complementary solution I would suggest is to use nature. There must be a bacterium or a microorganism out there that thrives on sargassum weed. Bacteria even cause plastics to decompose. So if Mother Nature loves a vacuum and abhors excessive concentrations of anything, we should feel sure that she already has – or will soon be developing – a strong natural response to the overabundance of seaweed.
Manual beach clean-ups are pitiful, and they can make tourists feel obligated to help.
Regional governments should call for help and invest human and other resources in scientific exploration of the amazing organic wealth and potential of our neglected Caribbean seas.
– LEE FARNUM-BADLEY