The St. Maarten Nature Foundation is once again warning about the possibility of large amounts of Sargasso Seaweed washing ashore on local beaches. Based on surveys at sea and in the air there are several large patches of Sargassum seaweed heading into the general direction of St. Maarten.
Sargassum is a genus of brown (class Phaeophyceae) seaweed which is distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. Most of the Sargasso Seaweed lies concentrated in the Sargasso Sea, a region in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean surrounded by ocean currents. It is bounded on the west by the Gulf Stream; on the north, by the North Atlantic Current; on the east, by the Canary Current; and on the south, by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current.
Sargasso Weed had been plaguing the Caribbean and St. Maarten last year, with the Foundation having to warn swimmers to avoid swimming in Guana Bay in August and September due to the large amount of Sargasso Weed and many beach front residences and hotels having to continuously clean washed up Sargassum. After a few months' respite large mats of Sargassum have once again started to appear in the area. The resulting large influx of Sargasso Weed has been due to a suspected southward shift in the Gulf Stream, which has pushed the Sargasso Sea– an area of the Atlantic Ocean where Sargasso Weed is in thick concentration, south to our area.
"We started to notice patches of Sargassum appearing in the area around the beginning of March and have seen a steady increase since then. We did an aerial survey recently and patrols in that direction and we have indeed seen some large mats of the seaweed headed in our direction. We will monitor the situation closely not only for the interest of the population but also as it relates to the sea turtles that come to nest on our beaches," commented Tadzio Bervoets, Nature Foundation Manager.
The Nature Foundation will continuously monitor the status of the Sargasso Weed and notify the authorities if there is an imminent risk of a large influx of Sargasso in the St. Maarten Area.
