A new harvester to reap sargassum seaweed, which clogs beaches nationwide each year is set to get to work, Minister of Maritime Affairs Kirk Humphrey has announced.
He said he expected the new equipment to significantly boost efforts to clean up the country.
Addressing the launch at the Barbados Coast Guard base HMBS Pelican, the Minister recalled that the sargassum seaweed was among the challenges Government faced two years ago and a plan had to be put in place.
As a result, Government spent almost $300,000 to acquire the seaweed harvester, a tractor and conveyor, Humphrey said, suggesting it would help transform Barbados.
He said: “I think it is important for us to recognize that there are a few things we have to do right now. If COVID-19 hasn’t taught us anything then nothing will. We cannot continue with business as usual. So the first thing Barbados has to do is clean. And, the seaweed harvester is part of our cleaning up programme and we are going to deploy the seaweed harvester mostly along the early west coast and the south coast.
“Ón the east coast we are going to continue to use mostly manual labour. We have about 75 people who are trained in how to handle the seaweed and we are about to deploy another 50, if not 75, to be able to start cleaning the seaweed [there].”
Humphrey said the ministry has been very conscious about removing the seaweed in a responsible way so as not to take all the sand, adding it was “more about respecting one ecosystem, not trying to advance one at the detriment of another”.
He said: “ I think we have been able to do that fairly well. We moved a significant amount of tonnage of seaweed over the last year. Certainly, with this [the seaweed harvester] we will be able to move even more seaweed. So, we are going to keep Barbados clean.
Humphrey also stressed the need for much more innovation in the use of the seaweed.
While noting there had already been a lot of scientific work and studies on sargassum, he added Barbadians have shown how innovative they can be through the making of fertilizers, soaps and the ministry’s own work on making energy.
Humphrey said: “Fishermen, for example when they were dealing with the seaweed they made adjustments to their fishing vessels. So, instead of throwing the net on top of the water; they put the net so that it floats just below the seaweed so that they could still catch the fish below the seaweed. They have also been able to do things to protect the propellers on the boats so it does not destroy their vessels.
“All of these things without anybody showing them…just innovating and responding, in a way, to issues and problems. So, I believe we are going to be able to be transformative. I think this part of our programme is going to be transformative.”
