CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Like it or not, it’s that time of year again when large clumps of seaweed start washing up on the beach.
Even if you think it stinks, the sargassum is natural, and that’s just one of the reasons why Brevard County doesn’t pick it up.
A Facebook post by the city of Cape Canaveral about the seaweed returning explains more, and one comment reads that you can tell who’s from here and who’s not, based on whether they’re complaining.
Dr. Brian Barnes is leading a $3 million project at USF’s College of Marine Science, trying to predict where all the seaweed in the Atlantic ends up.
[Watch video below to see News 6 report]
By using satellites to take measurements and make maps, Dr. Barnes told News 6 this year’s seaweed blob stretching across the ocean is even bigger than the one you might have heard about two years ago.
“Over the last month, we saw somewhere around 31 million metric tons of sargassum, which is the highest amount we’ve ever recorded in this area and would be the largest macroalgae bloom ever,” Barnes said.
In 2023 in Miami, officials actually removed seaweed from beaches, but beaches program manager Mike McGarry said Brevard County does not interfere with Mother Nature.
The FWC said seaweed that washes up plays a vital role in the ecosystem.
While some might complain about the smell, wildlife in the sargassum — including the fungus that grows — is food for animals like birds and crabs.
Just because this year’s bloom could be the biggest ever, that doesn’t mean it will completely cover beaches.
Barnes said it depends on winds and currents.
“As long as we can effectively manage it, make sure that we’re not destroying our beaches as we’re trying to clean this up, make sure that we’re not letting the sargassum sit on top of seagrass environments, or coral reefs, or so forth,” he said.
Barnes said he’s not sure what’s causing what he calls an explosion of seaweed this year, but he said every year that bloom typically peaks in June.
You can learn more about his work at USF tracking all the seaweed here.