WILLEMSTAD - The north coast of Curaçao has been dealing with washed-up Sargassum seaweed for about two weeks now. The seaweed, which comes from the Sargasso Sea, is pushed towards the Caribbean islands by a current in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Ministry of Health, Environment, and Nature (GMN) writes that they have found a lot of seaweed, especially at Sint Jorisbaai and Ascension. When the seaweed washes up, it starts to rot and therefore smell. This causes a lot of inconvenience. The seaweed is also harmful to the coral and the animals underwater, because daylight no longer reaches the water.
It's the ministry's job to clean up the Sargassum seaweed. Nevertheless, there is no budget for this, and the costs will be high. The Ministry of GMN is monitoring the situation. Curaçao is not the only place where seaweed is a nuisance. The nuisance is also extreme on the islands of the Florida Keys and in Florida, so much so that tourists are leaving.