Sargassum Problem – Florida Keys Look Looks for Solutions

Anyone who’s been to the beach in South Florida or the Caribbean in recent months has probably seen — or smelled — sargassum piled up on shore. The (Sargassum Problem) algae is hitting record levels.

In the Keys, some want their local governments to address the problem.

Robert Moser’s family has had a place in Islamorda since the 1970s. He’s seen sargassum come ashore before. But not like this year.

“We’re always living with it, it’s just this is an unprecedented amount of sargassum that’s been washing up on the shores,” he said. “We’ve never seen it. It’s 10 times the amount I’ve ever seen before.”

Moser recently appealed to the Islamorada Village Council for help and they promised to see what they could do. But the issue is especially tricky because the beach Moser’s talking about has sea turtle nests.

Florida Keys Treasures in the Beach Wrack Line

Florida Keys Beaches

Islamorada has strict rules about cleaning the beaches so those nests are protected. Now village officials say they will look into how other waterfront communities with turtle nesting handle beach cleaning and consider a test area with monitoring of the nests.

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