The Government of Anguilla is taking active steps towards the removal of sargassum from beaches across the island.
Three officers from the Department of Environment carried out an assessment of beaches on Anguilla to determine the magnitude of the influx of the sargassum seaweed. Based on this assessment they identified ten impacted beaches that were classified as priorities for immediate cleanup. The ten beaches were: Shoal Bay West, Maunday’s Bay, Cove Bay, Blowing Point Beach, Forest Bay, Long Pond Bay, Sandy Hill Bay, Junks Hole Bay, Mimi Bay and Sile Bay.
The Executive Council at its meeting of October 13th, 2015 approved the sum of US$26,570 for the clean-up of these ten beaches, as a short term measure.
The cleanup strategy will involve a combination of manual cleanup and the use of heavy machinery such as excavators. Each beach listed above will require persons to remove the sargassum manually, but only Forest Bay, Sandy Hill Bay, Long Pond Bay and Junks Hole Bay will require the use of heavy machinery.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is therefore seeking heavy equipment operators from these communities who are willing and able to provide this service at a cost of US $130 per hour for removal of the sargassum and US $150 to transport the sargassum to the designated storage site.
Similarly, the Ministry is also seeking persons who are willing and able to manually remove the sargassum at a cost of US $7.50 per hour.
Prices quoted are non-negotiable and invoices will be paid in EC equivalents.
In order to qualify, persons must meet the following criteria:
1. They must be nationals of Anguilla.
2. They must be residents of the communities in which the beach that will be cleaned is located.
3. They must be available to work on the scheduled cleanup date
Interested Belongers of Anguilla are asked to attend a meeting on Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 8:30 am at the Ministry of Home Affairs, where cleanup schedules and other related information will be discussed. Persons attending are asked to walk with some form of ID.
Persons wishing to obtain more information are asked to contact The Ministry of Home Affairs at tel: 497-2518
– Press Release
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
