Managing the Sargassum Problem

Even as the prime tourist destination is seeing a rebound, sargassum continues to be an eyesore incurring costs for the council and hoteliers. Mitigating the natural phenomenon continues to be a new mandate of the council.

Wally Nunez

Wally Nunez, Mayor, San Pedro Town

“The town council is always working with the sargassum; this is a year round problem that we have. Sargassum has been there for many years; it’s not like it is something new, it is just the bloom of it that we have had so much of the sargassum. And the council along with private sector and the different hotels and resorts, we have been working on trying to mitigate the problem.  But you know that it is quite impossible to deal with it a hundred percent. So B.T.B. has talked to us that they wanted to assist; they’ve actually assisted with some of the cleanups. And in collaboration with B.T.B., we are going to get some of the machinery – beach rakes – so that we can work on it a little better. Thankfully right now with the cold fronts, we are not going to get much on the beach because most of it is blown off the beach when you get cold fronts.”