The biggest sargassum seaweed bloom in the world

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

Maybe, but maybe it isn't as bad as many like to make it seem. One poster earlier noted that the Sargassum was worse in the fifties and sixties. Perhaps it is a cyclical thing. It is also possible that there was more of something in the area you mentioned and it is local, not global.

I have been cruising between the Bahamas and Maine for the last 8 years. Since I was actually here and occasionally on the ocean in the 50's and on it a lot in the late 60s I can assure you that things are much worse than they were then. The amount of life in the oceans is a small fraction of what it was then. When I was a kid off of new england in the summer you could look any direction and see numerous bait balls working the surface. On my last trip to Maine I only saw one. The year before I didn't see any. I actually think it's much worse than the worst doomsayers are saying. The bloom of sargassum is probably inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.



The Ocean ecosystems evolved based on cycling of nutrients in biologically available forms. Humans harvest these nutrients if the form of seafood and remove them from the nutrient cycles in huge amounts. These cycles sustain life in the oceans, but we are destroying them. You can't remove the amount of seafood from the oceans that we do and expect the ecosystems to survive.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

The amount of life in the oceans is a small fraction of what it was then.


I actually think it's much worse than the worst doomsayers are saying. The bloom of sargassum is probably inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

You can't remove the amount of seafood from the oceans that we do and expect the ecosystems to survive.

I agree that the over harvesting of the oceans is a major problem. Alas, progress in this area is slow at best. On the other hand, there have been some success stories with some species, proving that we can fix things if we put our mind to it. Fifty years ago, the waters of NYC were pretty much dead. Today, many species have returned, the water is much cleaner, and the overall health is much better. It can be done.



We have created some marine sanctuaries around the world, albeit in far too small numbers. The good news is that we have demonstrated the benefits to all parties; those who live there, tourists, those who fish, etc. These sanctuaries have also demonstrated benefits to areas beyond the sanctuary boundaries. As these successes continue, momentum will grow.



I think as big an issue is the problem of fertilizers washing into the coastal areas, creating large dead zones, upsetting natural balances, and creating general havoc.


I am in complete agreement with you about the over harvesting. It is a serious problem and a dangerous one. I just wish I had a dollar for each claim of total doom.

[barnakiel]

Oceans are vastly over-harvested. I could see huge differences between our 2003-2017 crossings (4x) of the same patch of water. Last time we crossed the ocean was virtually dead - no fish, no dolphins either.



But present sargasso bloom will be either a periodic thing or else may be uncorrelated.



Maybe, possibly, the high content of land wash off fertilizers plays a role. This is what happened to our local lakes on a vast scale in the 70'ies and 80'ies. So maybe on the global scale now is happening to the seas and oceans. It's been over 100 years that we have been using fertilisers with last 70 years being a huge, exponential, jump up:


http://www.earth-policy.org/images/u..._fert_cons.PNG



https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/t...utrient-tonnes


https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/n...zer-production


I think sargasso may react to fertilisers just like land vegetation does: GROW!


Cheers,
b.

[Montanan]

Update on the same subject.

Today's news article:
Several Caribbean Islands Dealing With Record Amounts Of Seaweed, The Problems It’s Causing For Tourists And Residents

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/to...3b909992586a4d

“This year has been the worst year on record,” said Lisa Krimsky, a university researcher with Florida Sea Grant, according to the Associated Press. “It is absolutely devastating for the region.”
She said large masses of seaweed have a severe environmental impact, with the decaying algae altering water temperatures and the pH balance and leading to declines in seagrass, coral and sponges.

“They’re essentially being smothered out,” Krimsky said.

The “golden tide” also has hit humans hard.

The concentration of algae is so heavy in parts of the eastern Caribbean that the French island of Guadeloupe issued a health alert in late July. It warned some communities about high levels of hydrogen sulfide gas emanating from the huge rotting clumps of seaweed. The gas, which smells like rotten eggs, can affect people with breathing problems such as asthma.

The Biden administration declared a federal emergency after the U.S. Virgin Islands warned last month of unusually high amounts of sargassum clogging machinery at a desalination plant near St. Croix that is struggling to produce water and meet demand amid a drought.

In addition, the U.S. Virgin Islands’ electricity generating station relies on ultra-pure water from the desalination plant to reduce emissions. The loss of such water would force the government to use a type of diesel fuel that is more expensive and in limited supply, officials said.

This Year’s Problem:

Large amounts of sargassum have appeared in the Caribbean Sea every summer since 2011, except in 2013, according to the University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Lab. This year, more than 24 million tons of sargassum were spotted in the Atlantic Ocean in June, breaking the all-time record by 20 percent.