Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 11 May 2019

Mexico’s prized beaches threatened by smelly algae invasion

By MARK STEVENSON by 11 a.m. you don’t have
Associated Press any algae, and by 7 p.m.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tour- when the sun sets, it’s full
ists looking for sun and sand again,” said Lopez.
in Mexican resorts like Can- This all makes people nos-
cun, Playa del Carmen and talgic for the days before
Tulum have been disgusted 2014 when sargassum “was
by foul-smelling mounds of very little, very manage-
sargassum — a seaweed- able, not a problem, not a
like algae — piling up on risk, just barely a line” in the
beaches and turning tur- sand.
quoise waters brown, and Now, some novel ideas for
experts are warning that it what to do with collected
may be the new normal. sargassum are springing
Mexico’s Riviera Maya Ca- up, such as using it as an
ribbean coast provides additive for making bricks.
half the country’s tourism But its usefulness as a fertil-
revenues and very little sar- izer or animal feed is limited
gassum reached it prior to by the chemicals it con-
2014. But a possible combi- tains, like salt, iodine and
nation of climate change, arsenic.
pollution from fertilizers and Tourists come to Mexico’s
ocean flows and currents Caribbean coast for the
carrying the algae mats to sun, sand, snorkeling and
the Caribbean has caused turquoise waters. While
the problem to explode. Sargassum seaweed covers the beach in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Wednesday, May 8, 2019. there are other things to
While it may not have the Associated Press do on the coast, like visit-
global impact of melting del Carmen from Knoxville, from rivers, so all three may taken away in what would ing sinkhole lakes known as
of polar ice, the vast mats Tennessee. “This is a Carib- have increased the recent amount to hundreds of trips cenotes, Mayan ruins and
of sargassum filling the Ca- bean problem on the east large amounts of sargas- every day. the jungle, the beach re-
ribbean could be one of coast that goes from Can- sum,” said Hu. Scientists have set up sar- mains the prize attraction.
the more visible climate- cun all the way past Am- While he says additional gassum tracking systems And tourists are unlikely to
change events because of bergris Caye in Belize.” research is needed before that detect the amount of accept brown, algae-filled
the sheer number of peo- The concerns may not be definitively linking it all to algae heading for shores water.
ple who visit the region’s hyperbole: the sargassum human activity, he pointed in the Caribbean, but it’s Local hotel owners and
popular tourist beaches, mats appear even worse to evidence of “increased hard to predict when or tourism industry workers
some officials say. along parts of Mexico’s use of fertilizer and in- where it will land. — which is just about ev-
“This is one of the biggest coast than they did last creased deforestation” as Extracting it at sea risks the erybody to some extent in
challenges that climate year. And the problem af- possible culprits, at least as species that use the float- Quintana Roo — are feel-
change has caused for the fects almost all the islands far as the Amazon is con- ing mats as cover for their ing abandoned by the
world,” said the govern- and mainland beaches in cerned. young. But shoveling or federal government, which
ment of Mexico’s resort- the Caribbean to an ex- Warming ocean waters are bulldozing up sargassum is planning a fancy tourist
studded coastal state of tent. The U.S. Gulf coast likely to play only a minor once it washes up on shore train to connect the coast
Quintana Roo. “This chal- got hit in 2014 and the east role since the area — the is also a herculean task that with Mayan ruin sites in-
lenge requires a joint, multi- coast of Florida is getting tropical Atlantic and Carib- can put at risk sea turtles’ land.
national effort and a global sargassum this year. bean — has always been nesting sites. “With Sargassum, there is
commitment.” The algae flooding into the pretty warm. “You can clean up a No Mayan Train,” said a
While tourist arrivals at the Caribbean is coming from Meanwhile, business own- beach, get it clean, imag- slogan launched by local
Cancun airport were up an unexpected source: ers in Mexico’s glitzy beach ine starting at 6 a.m. and businesses.q
3.3% in March over the the tropical Atlantic waters resorts are desperate for
same month last year, beyond the mouth of the solutions.
many fear this will not Amazon River. “What you have to do is 4 dead in explosion at
last long with the sargas- Chuanmin Hu, a professor stop it before it even reach-
sum befouling white sand of oceanography at South es the beaches,” said Adri- house in Colombia’s capital
beaches and blue waters, Florida University’s College an Lopez, the president of
as well as the air — sargas- of Marine Science, says the Quintana Roo’s employers’ Associated Press
sum decomposes with a sargassum mats appear to federation. BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Four people are dead and
rotten egg smell. As it de- be the result of increased Contention lines of floating at least eight injured after an explosion in Bogota at what
cays and sinks to the bot- nutrient flows and ocean plastic booms can be an- may have been an underground gunpowder store.
tom, it can also smother water upwelling that brings chored offshore to catch Firefighter Cmdr. Pedro Monasalva said the blast hap-
the coral the Caribbean is nutrients up from the bot- the incoming mats of al- pened at a home shortly before 1 p.m. local time in the
known for, and accumu- tom. Prevailing ocean cur- gae, but as Lopez notes, western part of Colombia’s capital.
lations on beaches can rents carry the algae into some resorts have very The loud explosion tore through two levels of the small
make it harder for sea tur- the Caribbean, where it shallow coral reefs located brick building and also damaged several nearby cars
tles to nest. can grow further. right offshore so the booms and a preschool.
“In my humble opinion it’s He says the cycle is not like- would be less of a solution. Investigators do not believe the incident is terror-related
a disaster that will eventu- ly to stop anytime soon. And Hu warns that such a and are looking into a possible cause.
ally cripple the tourism, the “Because of global climate solution would be expen- Authorities are also investigating whether the property
businesses and, sad to say, change we may have sive. The tons of sargas- was being used for the fabrication of gunpowder for use
destroy the local econo- increased upwelling, in- sum building up behind the in the popular game of “tejo.”
my,” said Jef A. Gardner, creased air deposition, or booms has to be gathered The centuries-old pastime is played by hurling a metal
a frequent visitor to Playa increased nutrient source up, put aboard boats and disc at little packets of gunpowder.q