Stinking Seaweed Is Trashing Caribbean Tourism Nicole Mormann - TakePart
go to original August 12, 2015

Mexican beaches hit with tons of seaweed (BBC News/Share News World)

Decaying seaweed that’s infested with biting sand fleas and smells like rotten eggs is polluting beaches across the Caribbean region, putting a damper on some beach vacations along gorgeous coastlines.

Tourism-reliant businesses are doing their best to convince visitors that the brownish smelly algae, known as sargassum, is nothing to worry about. The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association, a coalition of global hotels, insists the seaweed is harmless to human health and isn't all bad—after all, it can be used as fertilizer and compost if properly cleaned and dried.

Authorities on the Caribbean coast of Mexico are spending an estimated $9.1 million and hiring 4,600 workers to remove the seaweed, which has crept up along about 112 miles of coastal beaches, including tourist hotspot Cancun.

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