It’s good to note that the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI (see related story) has initiated an island-wide Sargassum Weed emergency clean-up. Their focus is on the Beacon Hill/Simpson Bay and Oyster Pond/Dawn Beach areas, which have been particularly hard-hit.
It regards a multiple threat: For starters marine organisms get stuck in the invasive seaweed and die, contributing to the rotting process when washed ashore.
The latter releases potentially harmful odours especially directly downwind. Consequences for the tourism economy should not be underestimated either, certainly for a sun, sand and sea destination.
But, as nature expert Tadzio Bervoets points out on today’s opinion pages, this has become a structural Caribbean issue that must be dealt with in a coordinated manner. Sargassum appears here to stay and continuously mitigating its negative impact begs a regional answer.
His message is also in line with that of Prime Minister Luc Mercelina at a Climate and Energy Conference reported on in this edition. He called for a related kingdom-wide resilience plan.
Economy-of-scale could play a big role in realising workable solutions. For example, the collected seaweed can be made into fertiliser, but it’s a time-consuming and elaborate exercise that becomes less cost-effective in a small market.
Even shipping the stuff to the Netherlands with its huge agricultural industry might be more feasible. In any case, tackling the problem seems best served with a broad-based, comprehensive approach.
