Massive ‘Blob’ of Seaweed heading to Florida

[pressphotog]

I seen this headline this morning about the giant Sargassum bloom and heard some chatter from southern friends too.  It's an interesting read not because of its presence but the mass that is out in the ocean this year.  I do know and the article reaffirms this that those seaweed beds hold all sorts of wildlife and are fun to dive and fish.   

 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/heres-the-real-story-behind-the-massive-blob-of-seaweed-heading-toward-florida/

[BLilly]

Years ago when we would go to the Yucatan of Mexico that stuff was a PITA. The last time we were there they had tractors out cleaning it up off of the beaches and put into piles the size of houses along the beaches. That stuff stinks to high heaven after sitting out on the sun for a few days.....Sounds like this year is going to be terrible.

[mybosox3]

9 mins ago, pressphotog said:

I seen this headline this morning about the giant Sargassum bloom and heard some chatter from southern friends too.  It's an interesting read not because of its presence but the mass that is out in the ocean this year.  I do know and the article reaffirms this that those seaweed beds hold all sorts of wildlife and are fun to dive and fish.   

 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/heres-the-real-story-behind-the-massive-blob-of-seaweed-heading-toward-florida/

Media hype

[CWitek]

It's been hitting some Caribbean islands fairly hard over the past couple of years.  Hotels have had some problems clearing their beaches.

 

I with we'd get some decent sargassum mats up here (Long Island); it provides some good shots at dolphin, and can hold other critters as well.  It's funny; supposedly more sargassum down southm, but I'm seeing much less of it up here than I had in the late '80s and '90s.

[EBHarvey]

"A loose raft of brown seaweed spanning about twice the width of the U.S. is inching across the Caribbean"

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeK]

Saragasso sucks.  It's been hurting tourism in the Caribbean islands for 10 years now and shows no sign of letting up.  I have been there/seen it shutdown flats fishing first hand.  It's sad and I feel for those who's lively hood is/will be impacted. 

[FallenKell]

That stuff is a real pain to fish in. You are simply pulling 1-2 lbs of seaweed with every cast...

[Michael P]

Just got back from Barbados.  The sargassum weed is unreal there now and they told us it was worse last summer.  Have to figure the next stop is the Caribbean to Florida

[koalaslim]

The sea isn't real.  Seaweed is a fake.  Whales?  As if.  

[stripedbassking]

Between the huge fish kills and now seaweed mayhem… FL can’t catch a break

[EricDice]

A few years ago, there was one of the seasonal nor’easter storms in S Jersey. Walking the beach immediately after it slowed, there were many clumps of weed I think you could call sargassum and amazing animals were in the clumps.

 

I found crabs and fish- some of which were still alive and a seahorse which was dead. 

[Skunkoff]

Hope the gulf stream doesn't suck that stuff up north.  Seaweed reports should be interesting and discouraging.  Really good for the ocean, bad for shoreline.

 

That said, for anyone into reading Lovecraftian type stories, I recommend "Boats of the Glen Carrig".  Very fitting for this topic.

[MakoMike]

Not that unusual to see saragassum offshore around here.

[thill]

When we were teens, in the 80's there was a lot of sargassum weed, and although it was a royal pain to fish around, the amount of sea life that shelters in it was awesome, including the fry of many species of gamefish.   In the end, it is a VERY good thing for the ecology and for fishing.

 

An ocean devoid of life may be pretty and blue, but the ocean is not a swimming pool.