#Sargassum #Toxicity: Here's what you need to know
Experts predict it's likely here to stay
By Petar Denoble, MD, D.Sc., Mar 2, 2020
"If you’ve cruised the eastern #Caribbean or South #Florida recently, you probably caught a whiff of a rotten egg smell and noticed piles of floating brown seaweed hugging the shore. Far more than an eyesore, this Sargassum seaweed—and the gases it emits as it rots—has been proven to be hazardous to human health.
"Since 2011, massive Sargassum rafts have been washed up ashore along the eastern Caribbean, spoiling beaches, affecting near-coastal sea life, and causing health problems for beachgoers, boaters, and fishers. Recent satellite observations reveal an unprecedented belt of this brown macroalgae stretching from #WestAfrica to the Gulf of #Mexico—and experts predict that it’s likely there to stay. The problem has become such a menace south of the border that the Mexican Navy has been put in charge of dealing with it.
"Causes of the proliferation of #sargasso are thought to be the influx of fertilizers from the #Amazon and #Congo river basins; dust blown in from the #Sahara Desert carrying nitrogen, phosphorus, and #iron; and increased surface #temperature of the #ocean. In normal circumstances, the mass of sargasso may double in 11 days. With increasing temperatures, that growth gets boosted. The thickness of sargasso rafts gets larger, and the shores get hit by walls of sargasso mass.
"Under normal conditions, floating Sargassum is a thriving #ecosystem, providing a vital habitat and food source for many sea species—including turtles and mahi-mahi. But when it grows too thick, #dolphins and #turtles cannot break through it to the surface and often choke. And when sunlight cannot get through it to the bottom, bottom life gets damaged to the point of #extinction.
"Sargassum presents risks to human health as well. In the water, it’s harmless to humans, but the trouble begins once it lands on the beach and starts to decompose. The decomposition of beached sargasso begins 48 hours after washing up. It then releases hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas and ammonia. H2S is a broad-spectrum poison that smells of rotten eggs.
"Breathing in these toxic gases may cause respiratory, skin and #neurocognitive symptoms in people that come in close contact with degrading sargasso. In 2018, in Guadeloupe and Martinique, there were 11,000 cases of suspected #poisoning reported. Patients complained of heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, vertigo, headache, and skin rashes."
#ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #Pollution #Fertilizers
Read more:
https://danboater.org/travel-health-and-safety/sargassum-toxicity-health-hazard-what-you-need-to-know.html
