Record sargassum bloom set to degrade beaches. not good unless they can figure out a way to harvest and repurpose it. will the record size bloom generate habitat and large population of bait fish that would generate large population of predators like mahi that thrive on the baitfish from the weedline? record mahi season? A 5,000-mile blanket of seaweed that can be seen from space is threatens the beaches of Florida (msn.com) While the consequences of the Sargassum Belt have concerned scientists for the past decade, experts say this year's bloom is particularly alarming, according to reporting by Denise Chow for NBC News published Saturday. "It's incredible," Brian LaPointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, told NBC News. "What we're seeing in the satellite imagery does not bode well for a clean beach year." LaPointe, who has studied sargassum for four decades, told the news outlet that beaches in Key West are already being covered with the algae, despite the piles usually washing ashore in May. Beaches in Mexico — like in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum — are also preparing for a large build-up of sargassum this week. The size of the mass of seaweed is growing each year — with 2018 and 2022 having record-breaking increases, Brian Barnes, an assistant research professor at the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science, told NBC News. This year is approaching these records, he said.
If this thing travels as predicted its going to be a bad spring tourist season in Florida. https://thehill.com/homenews/389629...ice-the-width-of-the-us-takes-aim-at-florida/ Marine scientists are tracking a 5,000-mile-wide seaweed bloom that is so large, it can be seen from space. These sargassum blooms are nothing new, but scientists say this one could be the largest in history. At last check, it was heading toward Florida’s Gulf coast.
Blame Joe Biden's open borders for allowing the woke blob to invade Florida sovereignty, and DeSantis will personally dispatch the Florida National Guard to deport the seaweed to Massachusetts.
Ugh. Heading to Cancun the last week of the month. I’ve dealt with lots of seaweed in the Dominican Republic and it’s not enjoyable.
I thought this was a Trump thread. EDIT: Original title of dupe thread was Blob coming to Florida My post just looks stupid now. : (
I guess this may hinder opportunities to scavenge or harvest all that seaweed: What is the Sargasso Sea?
As a floating mass, yes. But, washed up on the beach, I think, likely negates a lot of the concerns over disrupting it’s impact on those ecosystems. Although, maybe it can’t be harvested for other applications after a certain level of environmental decay?
At least as biomass it could be collected and digested anaerobically to produce methane, and then the methane burned to produce electricity.
Other than perhaps beaches getting covered what’s the down side? A large sargassum bed helps all marine life. When we get strong easterly winds the beach gets covered up with it. It’s really not that big of a deal IMHO
Just because something is good, that doesn't mean more of it is better. From my limited understanding, location is also important here. A bloom at sea provides needed habitat. A bloom ashore chokes out near shore and intertidal ecosystems. An historically large and misplaced bloom seems quite capable of having negative impacts.
A record-breaking blob of smelly seaweed is arriving in Key West -- and tourists aren't happy about it | CNN