What The Tourism Department Doesn't Tell You

This article is behind a paywall, but if you have access or can find it elsewhere, it's about something that plagues some beaches, especially in South Florida, every year: a massive amount of seaweed is heading for us and could really kill off any beach recreation this Summer. Sargassum is good for sea turtles and birds but terrible for humans, not just because it's smelly and gross and makes even just sitting on the beach unpleasant but because it blocks canals and gets tangled in boat propellers. Last year's seaweed set a record, and this year's might break it, since we don't see these blobs forming this big this early. Why is this happening? Runoff from the Amazon, African wildfires and land clearance, seed piling up in mangroves... it stinks, literally, and while towns can clean the beaches, it just keeps coming, they can't clean it above the high tide line during sea turtle nesting season (March through October) and there's nothing anyone can do about it. (Palm Beach Post)

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