St. Martin take action against the Sargassum weed

Today in the Daily Herald it was reported that St. Martin is assigning people to help clean up the sea weed: http://www.thedailyherald.com/index.php?...s&Itemid=54

Interesting information. Any information on when the action is expected to start and which beaches will be targeted would be appreciated.

Thats good for the affected businesses. I was told Palm Beach pays $150 a day to have someone remove the seaweed in the morning, however, it just comes back all day long.

I know that to be true. You need someone to clean it up all day long so it doesn't accumulate and you need to clean it up in the morning where it has accumulated during the night. Doing it with 20 people for all the beaches is like trying to empty the ocean with a glass. I think the only thing to do is try to contain it by cleaning up the beaches once a week so it doesn't accumulate excessively.

OBBR has hired a consulting firm to figure out some way to keep it off Dawn Beach or at least reduce it.

Glad they are doing something. I do wonder, since this will be a concerted effort, I wonder what they will be doing with the accumulated seaweed? I believe what most hotels and restaurants have been doing is to bury it. I wonder if they will attempt to actually compost it.

It helps with the building of sand dunes which helps retain sand on the beach,it is unpleasant but part of the natural process that built the beaches,ps just left Orient Friday,Club
Orient end OK with seaweed coming in all day but blankets of seaweed coming in down by old Boo Boo Jams,I guess because of the direction of the waves.

could you just imagine the $$$$$ if it was really weed......kate <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/canada.gif" alt="" />

Someone mentioned sea lice attached to the seaweed. When it is buried wouldn't the sea lice effect the sand where people walk?

The reason the northern end of Orient Bay gets a lot of seaweed is that there is a channel cut through the reef so boats can come in and out of the bay. This allows a pathway for the seaweed. The reef in front Club O is the healthiest. That's why you see all the white-caps there. Next time you walk the beach, look out over the water while you are strolling and you will see what I am talking about.

Dutch side also taking action

Yes, we saw that today in the Daily Herald. Hopefully they will be able to better manage the clean-up of the beaches.

I am glad they are taking action, we are not returning until the Sargassum weed is gone. We come for the ocean and it has ruined that. We are vacationing other places and patiently waiting.

It depends on where you are on the island. Some beaches are not affected at all, like Simpson Bay beach.

Cleaning up beaches is one challenge however the larger issue is keeping the water clean for swimming and that will require a change in ocean current / wind direction . The Dutch side was a better choice during our April trip . Perhaps those empty resort pools will soon be more crowed if this trend continues .

I hope they don't burry the seaweed. Just saw on the news that one theory to the beach explosion in Rhode Island that sent a 65 year old into the air could have been caused by methane gas buildup from buried seaweed!!

Get out!
That's wild.
I'm gonna look it up.
When you coming down? To MIA!
cheers
i

Saw it on WABC NY, so it must be true!! . If sun doesn't stay out for more then 2 days at a clip you may find me on your door step!!

That certainly is believable!

Another article in the daily Herald on the seaweed clean-up:
http://www.thedailyherald.com/index.php?...s&Itemid=54

Hi. That's the same article I posted yesterday.

We were on island July 4-11. The one day we went to orient the seaweed was bad. We went to Pinel one day, and like others have said the smell of decaying seaweed in Cul de sac was terrible. We found simpson bay, mullet bay, and meads bay Anguilla to be seaweed free. The French side was also terribly brown due to lack of rain. Not sure why the Dutch side of the mountains looked greener.

Any recent reports on the seaweed situation?

Been on Club O section of beach the past two days and no problem at all. A fistful here and there in the water but nothing to speak of. Did not see other end of beach up close but did not notice any from a distance.

Have you been down past Pedro's at all? Would be interested to hear the status of the construction down there.

Drove through the parking lot area the other day. The building lot is cleared, with a big chain link fence around it and some construction equipment on site. But have not seen any building going on. Will take a better look today. On the seaweed -- was much worse Monday, especially the closer one got to Perch bar as opposed to Papagayo end. Still swimmable but was building up on sand and a nuisance for the first time in our three days here.

OK, thanks for the note, on both issues.

According to a story in today's Daily Herald, which apparently is not online that I saw, the Prefecture is currently cleaning up Cul de Sac, which started on Saturday and is to run through tomorrow. Next up is a clean up of seaweed at Orient. The final disposition of the seaweed is supposed to be compost. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Here is the article.
http://www.thedailyherald.com/index.php?...s&Itemid=54

Huh, ok, thanks. I didn't find it there earlier. Glad they tackled Cul de Sac first, as from all accounts, it was really bad there.

Hope they find a creative solution for this sargassum weed problem because it can be a great threat to our SXM tourism product. The latest I heard now is that the sargassum weed is now actually growing in the Caribbean.

Another article in todays paper.
http://www.thedailyherald.com/index.php?...s&Itemid=54

I just read today that the whole Gulf of Mexico and the Tilium coast is now completely inundated.

OK, that is incorrect. To say that the whole Gulf of Mexico is inundated is just plain WRONG. Florida's Gulf coasts are definitely NOT completely inundated with seaweed. I actually don't know what the Tilium Coast is, will look it up.

And for SXM even, there are certain beaches, like Simpson Bay and Mullett that currently have no seaweed issues, although Simpson Bay did have an issue in May, for sure.

OK, I did a quick Google search and I still don't know what the Tilium coast is??

And for the record, when we were there in mid to late April, Mullet did have a few days when the seaweed was there although not to the degree many of the other beaches were covered with it.

Poster probably meant to say Tullium (I'm not sure of spelling) which would be the shore on the western side of the Gulf of Mexico. Close to Cozumel. I find it hard to believe it would be effected that much also.

That's not true. No buried seaweed. No seaweed problem here at all. They think it was from an abandoned cable that once fed the light at the end of the causeway.

Tulum?

Yep, if that's the way it's spelled.

Tulum is on the Mexican coast, close to Cozumel, yes, and that's how it's spelled. I still don't know if that's what January was intending to say or not.

Thats the only location I could think of that January meant.

Are there any reports about conditions at the north end of Orient, specifically seaweed accumulation on the beach and related odor at Mount Vernon?

I haven't read the paper today, but the Collective was supposed to be doing a clean-up of Orient, when they finished with Cul de Sac and Cul de Sac was supposed to be done last week sometime.

Carol: I guess it is time to prove I'm not a liar.
Tilum is the proper spelling. I couldn't find the article I read a couple of days ago but here is a related one. www.newsok.com/mexico-struggles-to-clean-seaweed-surge-from-cancun-beaches . Here is one on the Gulf from a year ago. www.america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/2/seaweed-invasion . Lastly a few general articles on the subject. www.foragingtexas.com , www.eol.org/pages/93154/overview ,and, www.akumalnow.com/the-journey-of-the-sargassum .

OK, your first link comes up as 'not found' and there is no "Tilum", that I can find, which is not the spelling you listed first anyway, which was "Tilium". If you are talking about the place south of Cancun, it is TULUM..

Oh, and not for nothing, quoting aljazeera??

Damn! Some of the sights did not come up. I thought I did everything right but I'm no good with a computer. The Foraging Texas site is okay but you have to scroll down and it is alphabetically there.

I corrected myself. Tilum is a real place just google it to find out. Plus google sargassum weed and you can find all the articles that I listed. That is how I got them. I think that you have caught on by now that I don't like my integrity questioned. Being a retired Air Force officer, we value it above all else.

Time to swallow your pride. If you try to Google Tilum it self corrects to Tulum.

I stand corrected. I am always ready to admit when I am wrong. As for all the other articles, they are real and can be checked out if you bing the above subject. I don't know what went wrong when I tried to copy the addresses. Try the subject yourself. It is easy to find interesting articles on the subject including the ones I found.

Nobody is talking about your integrity, for goodness sake. But you got the name of the place wrong. Tulum is pretty darn famous among folks who travel to Mexico in general and/or cruise ship people.

Carol, I know and have no one to blame but myself. By the way have you checked out any of the articles or googled/binged the subject as I suggested?

I have read several articles online, yes. And I haven't seen much of anything regarding seaweed in FLORIDA recently.

Comparing seaweed in Florida vs SXM, I was at Satellite Beach last week, and while there was a bit of Seaweed, it was no where the amount of Seaweed I saw at Orient Beach in June.

my friend just got back last week from Akumal, which is close to Tulum...both of which are south of Cancun and Playa del Carmen...and he confirmed the sargassum is really bad down there also <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Sick.gif" alt="" />

It was on some of the south facing beaches of Anguilla in April, I was told Rendezvous Bay by The Place was covered, we did not go. We had it bad in Cancun one year - thick.
Here is a good article with pictures.
https://www.yahoo.com/travel/caribbean-clogged-seaweed-invasion-takes-over-125850888537.html

As one post said it's been coming in for two or three years now. The beach between Culdesac and the dump was unbelievable when I tried to fish there in April. Doubtful the weed will stop coming. In May, was on a sailboat from SXM to France. 18 days from SXM to the Azores, we were in the sargasso for 14 days.

Any updates on the Sargassum weed, heading to Belair for 16 days the beginning of October!