One of the dramatic side effects of the North Atlantic Ocean’s rapid warming, aside from stronger and more frequent hurricanes, is the huge increase in the annual Sargasso bloom from the Cape Verde Islands to the Caribbean.
Patches of Sargasso weed have always inhabited the middle of the Atlantic, hence the name of the Sargasso Sea, and these areas of weed provide habitats for a wide range of sea creatures, including mahi mahi and other game fish. Offshore sailors learned a long time ago that trolling a lure past a patch of weed often results in fresh fish for dinner.
But, the vast increase in the sargasso patches, particularly as they drift west with the trade winds into the Caribbean, has become a real issue, both for those sailing through the patches and those on shore who have to deal with tons of rotting weed on the beaches.
There was a huge bloom in 2020 and another one in June of this year. The weed has a particularly negative effect on corals and coral reefs by smothering them and destroying the coastal habitats for a wide range of shore creatures.
But human ingenuity may be coming to the rescue. A U.K. company called Seafields Solutions has teamed up with a St. Vincent and the Grenadines company, Private Refuse and Dispoal, to launch a second phase of the on-going Sagassum clean-up project. Their aim is to create a sustainable business transforming the weed into bio fuel.
