US Edition31 million tons of supercharged seaweed is creeping toward beaches in Florida and around the Caribbean
- This year’s sargassum bloom spans about 5,500 miles of ocean, coating Florida’s east coast and Caribbean beaches with 31 million tons of seaweed.
- Rising ocean temperatures from human-caused climate change and excess nitrogen in the water have driven sargassum's unprecedented growth since 2011.
- The seaweed harms ecosystems by producing toxic hydrogen sulfide gas and disrupts coastal economies reliant on tourism and fishing.
- Brian LaPointe stated sargassum can shift from a beneficial resource to a harmful bloom, and harvesting it could help replace single-use plastics to restore oceans.
- Governments, including Quintana Roo, are installing barriers and working with navies to control sargassum while researchers seek sustainable economic uses for the seaweed.
13 Articles
13 Articles
31 million tons of supercharged seaweed is creeping toward beaches in Florida and around the Caribbean
Sargassum hurts ecosystems and economies wherever its overgrown arms reach. And the seaweed is reaching into Florida’s waterways, coating marinas and beaches in the Miami area.
How a toxic seaweed choking Caribbean beaches could become a valuable resource
Marc Bruxelle/ShutterstockEach year, between March and October, large amounts of brown seaweed called sargassum wash up on the shores of Caribbean islands – choking beaches, damaging marine life and threatening tourism and public health. But a number of local entrepreneurs are hoping the seaweed could create an economic opportunity. From the coast of west Africa to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, climate change is warming the temperatu…
31 Million Tons of Sargassum Heading Toward the Beaches of Florida, Mexico, and the Caribbean
Sargassum in the Atlantic has reached record levels in 2025, with an estimated volume of 31 million metric tons, according to the Sargassum Watch System (SaWS), an initiative of the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida (USF). This marks a 40% increase over the previous record set in June 2022. Stretching over 5,500 nautical miles from the west coast of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico, this massive belt of floating algae is a…
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