Marine fauna is dying, fishing and the resort business are suffering
The tropical part of the Atlantic Ocean was covered by more than 24 million tons of brown algae – sargassum. This, according to researchers, is 20% more than the record number recorded in 2018.
Algae is rotting on beaches, poisoning the air, animals and boat engines are entangled in them, the Associated Press agency reports. This is the worst year on record, scientists say.
Environmentalists attribute the record growth of sargassum to rising water temperatures due to global warming and wastewater containing nitrogen fertilizers.
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Rotting algae release hydrogen sulfide, poisoning the air. Fish die in the so-called sargassum swamps. Some turtles, including those listed in the Red Book, become entangled in the algae and die, others cannot lay eggs on the beaches due to the accumulation of algae on the sand.
In addition, sargassum clogs desalination plants in the United States, which help to fight perennial megadrought. Some resorts in the Caribbean have been forced to close because their beaches have been covered by a brown, decomposing mass. Algae damage boat engines and fishing gear – fishermen cannot reach their fishing grounds. The island of Barbados in the Caribbean Sea was particularly affected by this.
In addition, the accumulation of seaweed has a serious impact on the environment. Decomposing sargassum changes water temperature and acidity, which leads to the death of other algae, corals and sponges.
Read also: Earth's climate warming is not only a result of human activity – research
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Sargassum is a genus of marine brown algae from the Sargassum family. Sargassums are attached to the bottom, and when detached, they form so-called elephants that float freely. Widespread on the shores of the warm seas of the planet. Slants form the so-called sargassum seas, “ocean meadows”, which makes it difficult for ships to move. The most famous of such seas is the Sargasso Sea of the Atlantic Ocean.
