KINGSTON, WILLEMSTAD - Sargassum seaweed that washes up on the Caribbean coasts cost at least $ 120 million last year. That is what the Jamaican tourism minister Edmund Bartlett says. He calls it a threat to tourism. In Jamaica, the arrival of sargassum already caused a 35 percent drop in tourism.

Curacao and Bonaire have also had to deal with a significant increase in sargassum that has been washed up for several years. This is a nuisance, especially on the North Coast: the seaweed stinks badly and the gases released through rotting can be harmful to health. Small animals and fish also choke on the sargassum.