Tag: Sargassum

• Tuesday, August 6th 2019 - 10:30 UTC

  The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt stretches 5.592 miles, fed with rich nutrients from farms along the Amazon river

  

  Slimy, stinky brown seaweed that ruins beachgoers' vacations from Mexico to Florida may be the new normal unless Brazil halts Amazon deforestation, experts say. The culprit, called sargassum, turns clear-blue seawater a murky brown and smells like rotten eggs when it washes ashore and starts to rot.

• Saturday, July 27th 2019 - 09:46 UTC

  Caribbean tourists warned of the toxicity of Sargassum on the beaches

  

  Tourists to the Caribbean may not realize that a brown drifting seaweed that's been piling up on beaches in recent years is dangerous, researchers say. Travelers and doctors alike should be aware that prolonged contact with the Sargassum weed, or inhaling the hydrogen sulfide gas it gives off as it decomposes on the beach, can cause heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, vertigo, headache and skin rashes, the authors write in the Journal of Travel Medicine.

• Friday, May 17th 2019 - 08:48 UTC

  Sargassum killing Mexico and Caribbean beaches and tourism industry

  

  Tourists looking for sun and sand in Mexican resorts like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum have been disgusted by foul-smelling mounds of sargassum – a seaweed-like algae – piling up on beaches and turning turquoise waters brown, and experts are warning that it may be the new normal.