At present, many of Anguilla’s pristine beaches, some adjacent to the island’s five star hotels and villas, are littered with seaweed, otherwise known as ‘sargassum’, which drifted from the Sargasso Sea.
Wikipedia defines the Sargasso Sea as “a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre. Unlike all other regions, called seas, it has no land boundaries. It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic brown Sargassum seaweed and often calm, blue water.”
Given the tons of seaweed that sea generates and sends out, it is rather strange that its blue water can churn out the vast amount of smelly debris which muddles the blue turquoise waters and coastlines of Anguilla, the rest of the Caribbean, the US coast and other areas to the west.
The seaweed is a headache to Anguilla and other Caribbean islands whose tourism-driven economies depend heavily on their beaches as natural attractions to tourists. Some islands are looking at ways to profit, if they can, from the seaweed washing up on their shores. Over 20,000 kilograms of seaweed were recently shipped by Antigua and Barbuda, for example, to Finland in a 20-foot container. It is the second shipment there by the territory’s Science Innovation Department of Analytical Services – to Origin Ocean, a company being incubated within the United Nations Office for Project Services.
A release from the Antigua and Barbuda department states that “the seaweed will be used as part of a project to design a new bio-refinery process for the extraction of biomolecules for use in foods, cosmetics and domestic detergent.” The second and third uses may be understandable, but the first is a matter for question.
The release added: “The department noted that the long-term goal is to establish a bio-refinery in Antigua and Barbuda where sargassum seaweed can be processed.”
The release did not say what the seaweed will be processed into. But many persons in Anguilla often speak about using the seaweed as a type of plant fertiliser – especially for coconut trees. In fact, it is known that in 2015 the then Government of Anguilla spent in excess of 26,000 US dollars to pay a number of persons to clean all of the attractive beaches of the island in the run-up to the tourist season.
Volunteers, in considerably large numbers, using bulldozers, backhoes, trucks, rakes and other equipment, removed tons of seaweed. Large amounts were taken to the Corito dumpsite for storage; to a longstanding dirt hole in White Ground, Sandy Hill; and to other dumps elsewhere. There was also talk about undertaking a deep excavation on the Agricultural Department’s farmland to serve as a storage place for the seaweed. The intention then was eventually to use the seaweed as compost – when fully-decayed and dried out – for distribution to farmers.
It is not known what became of the idea but, at least, something was done by the Government and the people of Anguilla, at that time, to protect their pristine and world-class beaches.
It must also be realised, however, that it was a time when the economy of Anguilla was in a better position. Money was probably available then for a number of small community and environmental projects such as a mass cleaning of the island’s coastlines.
As it stands today, with the effects of COVID-19, and its impact on the economy, the Government of Anguilla may be inclined to shirk away from using scarce financial resources to pay large sums to clean the beaches. And then, in a couple of days, only for the seaweed to return, as if in vengeance, to start the tedious cleaning process.
At some beaches the seaweed provides feeding grounds for a variety of seabirds in search of trapped aquatic insects. On the other hand, a number of persons, especially at the eastern end of the island, are known to search the litter for fresh jack fish caught in the avalanche of seaweed.
Left alone, the sea may take away some of the inshore debris but, in large measure, the seaweed remains on the beach, sending its offensive scent across the nearby areas and blocking the free movement of local and visiting beach lovers.
Kudos to a number of persons in Island Harbour who clean the Bayfront almost daily, thus preventing any sizeable build-up of seaweed on the beach.
Kudos also to hotel operators who regularly use willing workers to remove the debris in the immediate vicinity of their properties while, faraway, lies the ominous threat of incoming clusters of additional seaweed.
But, really, it has reached a point where the Government, notwithstanding its limited and closely-guarded funds, must step in and do something about the unsightly heavy litter of many of Anguilla’s pristine beaches.
One question, which may need some research – and which possibly Antigua and Barbuda may look into – was posed in The Anguillian newspaper in 2015 by Mr. Timothy Hodge, a voluntary Anguillian environmentalist. That question was:
“Is it possible that there are harmful emissions of hydrogen sulphide from rotting sargassum or seaweed which, so often, as now, litters the shores of Anguilla and other Caribbean islands?”
