Tourism stakeholders are bracing for possible fallout from what could be the largest recorded sargassum seaweed mass to pass through the region in the summer months.
Researchers from several oceanographic agencies in Florida say a 5 000-mile wide swath of seaweed has formed in the Atlantic Ocean and is pushing westward with expectations to begin affecting the region in July.
Chairman of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Renee Coppin said on Tuesday that members were already seeing an increase in the seaweed on the island’s beaches.
“Barbados is very dependent on coastal tourism and with any deluge of sargassum on our beaches there are concomitant negative outcomes for the sector,” she said in a media release.
“Up to the time of this report, there has been some increase in the seaweed, mainly along the east and southeast coasts, which are the Atlantic coastlines. One member also reported some occurrences on the West Coast, which is very unusual.”
Noting that this will have significant implications for this island’s marine life, coastal communities, beach users and the tourism industry, Coppin said that while government agencies have been trying to deal with the annual influx over the last decade, beachfront property owners will still have to draw tremendously on their resources to manage sargassum buildups.
“The negative impact on bookings goes without saying. I have a member who has had to deal with pile-ups of up to six feet at times, with the accompanying loss of access to the beach. That member has spent millions to deal with this matter, including investments in boom technology, the cost to constantly clear the beach and to transport guests to other beaches,” the BHTA chairman said.
“This member is possibly at the farthest end of the continuum but there are many who can speak to the resources needed to manage sargassum inundation.”
Nevertheless, Coppin remains optimistic there will be continued investment in research to mitigate the challenge that has been caused partly by global warming and human actions.
She wants to see countries that have been “the most significant contributors to this situation…step forward with funding to help resolve it”.
“The reality is that the beaches can take thousands of years to form, so carting away portions of the beach, bringing in heavy equipment which can destroy nesting sites, and some of the other interventions we use are not ideal. We may need to find ways to prevent sargassum from coming onshore and to work with the natural currents, tides and winds to mitigate it,” Coppin stressed.
(JB/BHTA)
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