‘Budget for beach Clean Up’ says Toymaker as Sargassum builds on Long Bay Beach

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, August 14, 2023 – Sargassum is again washing up in the Turks and Caicos islands, with residents now calling on the Government to address the heaps of seaweed.

Magnetic Media was on the beaches of Long Bay recently and witnessed the large piles firsthand.

Resident Bobby ‘Toymaker’ Morris was there too and said he was tired of seeing the seaweed on the shore.

“It is part of nature- but at least we can clean up some.  The Government should invest in beach cleanups, the whole island’s beaches should be clean.  We got tourists passing up and down here.  We have millionaires on this beach, they shouldn’t be walking on [this].”

The local, self-proclaimed ‘inventor’ raises a significant point, as the Turks and Caicos bills itself as a luxury destination.  It attracts global superstars like Drake, Serena Williams, the Kardashians and more who pay large sums to experience the TCI brand of paradise.  Though it has many uses and is a naturally occurring deposit, many luxury visitors, as the

Toymaker points out, may not see the masses of dark-coloured sargassum as part of that otherwise picturesque experience.

Magnetic Media also observed efforts from one hotel to clean up their section of the beach with help; in the past, we had been told the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources provides garbage bags.

“They need to put some money in the budget for this,” Morris told us, “I don’t like it because the beach is supposed to be white, sandy.  This is a high end place.  The government has money to afford it, so they need to clean this beach up man.”

Sargassum could also pose hidden and unsanitary dangers; from sharp objects to dog excrement.

Magnetic Media had received a plan from Josephine Connolly, Minister of Tourism, earlier this year outlining how the Government was planning to tackle the traveling seaweed, which can get smelly as it rots.

“While we do not want large heaps of Sargassum decaying on our beaches, we must be strategic in our approach,” she maintained.  “We are exploring our options to ensure our response is sustainable economically and environmentally.  Ideally, we can turn this problem into an opportunity and there have been proposed solutions including use in fertilizers, animal feeds, cosmetics, or for biofuel,”  she had said, and along with a draft policy to handle the issue.

It’s unclear whether those plans are in motion, but when we visited, the weed stretched along the shoreline as far as the eye could see.  It’s courtesy of a massive patch of sargassum floating in the Atlantic. The word from scientists is those patches will keep coming year after year, emphasizing the need for a plan to manage it.