PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Nature Foundation wants the Guana Bay and Gibb's Bay beaches to be closed to swimming until further notice due to the large amount of seaweed that has been washed ashore there.
The foundation has approached the Ministry of Tourism and Economic Affairs with its proposal.
The seaweed known as Sargasso weed has been plaguing the Caribbean, including St. Maarten, for some weeks due to a suspected Southward shift in the Gulf Stream that has affected the Sargasso Sea, an area of the Atlantic Ocean where Sargasso weed is in a thick concentration.
Initially Government and the Nature Foundation discussed how to remove the seaweed from the beaches. However, based on aerial surveys conducted recently, there is still a significant amount of Sargasso weed headed toward the Windward Islands, rendering a cleanup futile at present.
There were initial concerns that the decomposing seaweed on the beaches could be detrimental to the public. However, the Nature Foundation says that based on studies it has conducted, once the Sargasso weed is out of the water and dries out it simply decomposes like any other sea grass.
The Nature Foundation has removed patches of the seaweed from areas on both beaches where sea turtle eggs are incubating.
"We have removed the seaweed from the turtle nests and will wait until they are closer to being ready to hatch. Once we arrive at this period we will remove the eggs and free the hatchlings on a beach where there is no weed present so that they will make it to the sea safely," said Nature Foundation Marine Park Manager Tadzio Bervoets.
The Nature Foundation said it was deeply concerned about the safety of swimmers and has advised the public to refrain from swimming in both Guana Bay and Gibb's Bay, due to the possible risk of entrapment in the thick mixture of seaweed and garbage in the water.
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