WHAT TO DO with the seaweed? Bury it, right where it is, on the beach. Use it to rebuild our beaches.
Check out how Worthing Beach has been rebuilt in recent weeks. All the money the Government spent in 2007 washed down the coast.
The seaweed covers an area, then when the high tide comes over it, the sand rolling in the surf is trapped in the weed and deposited, instead of washing back out.
It has raised the level of the beach about four to six feet and almost covered the two eastern groynes.
Seaweed traps and holds the sand similar to how tree roots do and helps to prevent erosion. Eventually the seaweed breaks down and becomes part of the beach.
On the surface it is a problem. Covered with sand it will be the saviour of our tourism industry.
I recently read a passage which said: “The Lord knows what you need before you need it and provides it for you.”
With climate change and rising sea levels decimating our beaches, tourism will gradually disappear.
Consider this – if this summer, or next, Barbados is due for a storm or hurricane with a powerful storm surge, those same hotels now complaining about the seaweed will thank their lucky stars that the seaweed (and newly rebuilt beaches) is there to protect their properties. Without it many beaches and coastal properties may sustain damage.
The seaweed extending into the surf as at Silver Sands can actually extend the beach as more sand settles in it.
Use the Bobcats (many of which sit idle on weekends) to dig trenches four to five feet deep, starting just above the seaweed. Place the excavated sand on the upper side. Push the seaweed from a similar area into the trench. Trench the lower area just cleared, placing the sand on top of the seaweed in the upper trench. Move the next area of seaweed into the second trench.
Trench a third row, covering the seaweed in the second row. Work down the beach toward the sea, trenching, burying and covering the seaweed in a series of terraces. Use the first set of sand to cover the area.
If there is an excessive amount of seaweed, then send it to the recycling centre. Remove it only after you have used as much as possible to protect and rebuild this essential resource.
Why should Barbadian taxpayers pay to send this material to the recycling centre, who will then use it to produce products which they will sell for profit? Connections of the recycling centre have access to the largest concentration of caterpillars, trenchers, Bobcats and workers in the island. Let them help with the process on weekends when the equipment is idle.
These public/private sector solutions invariably involve taxpayers paying the expenses, with the private sector making all the profits.
Understanding the threat to Barbados’ future from rising sea levels and beach erosion, the Lord has sent us the resource we need to protect our beaches and because we are too blind to see it, we complain about a temporary inconvenience.
– ANN WALCOTT