These Popular Beach Destinations Are Facing a Seaweed Crisis-Here's How They Can Be Dangerous

"If you've ever shown up to the beach only to find the water covered with brown, floating algae, you've experienced a brown tide. The eyesore is the result of increased levels of sargassum seaweed, which floats in island-like masses and are brought to shore by the tides. In addition to being unsightly, sargassum seaweed inundation causes a host of problems. It can block the sunlight from the ocean floor, killing seagrass and harming shellfish. It can also cause some health effects in humans, making going to the beach and recreating in the ocean less appealing, two things that affect tourism."

"That's the focus of a new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Rhode Island. Their research has found that recurring sargassum seaweed inundation has led to multi-million, and in some cases billion-dollar, losses. The beaches hit the hardest tend to be in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and along Florida's Atlantic coast, thanks to their proximity to the "Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, " a roughly 5,500-mile-long mass of floating seaweed that stretches from West Africa to the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and the U.S. Atlantic coastline."

Sargassum seaweed forms island-like masses that wash ashore as brown tide, creating visible accumulations on beaches. Accumulations block sunlight to the ocean floor, killing seagrass and harming shellfish, and can produce health effects in humans that reduce beach recreation and tourism. Recurring inundation has produced multi-million- and in some cases billion-dollar economic losses for beaches near the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, especially in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Florida's Atlantic coast. Satellite observation, fisheries and tourism board data, and long-term sargassum monitoring were used to quantify economic impacts and guide investment decisions in forecasting, response, and mitigation.

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