So, as you've seen, Sargassum is swamping Belize's coasts - from the islands to the mainlands. Today a thick and long mat of it washed up in Belize City and hugged the Marine Parade coast. And while it looks unsightly, it's a good thing, the camera can't capture odor because….that's many times worse than the appearance.
Indeed, it's the most intense Sargassum season in years - and government is considering declaring it a national emergency so that special funds can be directed to mitigating the effect.
The NEMO Minister said there's a Task Force looking for answers:
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service, Governance & Disaster Risk Management
"No to me it is a natural disaster that we have to look at from all sectors of government. As a matter of fact, yesterday was the first meeting of the sargassum Taskforce that was established by cabinet and that is chaired by the Minister of Tourism and it brought together different organisations, including disaster risk management, to look at how we can mitigate the damage from sargassum, not only the environmental damage that the sargassum is causing, but of course, the tourism aspect of it. Where we see the sargassum on the beach, causing the area not to be an area that tourists want to visit, etc. So this is an all of government approach and I believe that the Prime Minister is right in saying that this is a disaster we have to look at, and it's going to recur. The last time it was this big was in 2022, but it doesn't mean that it didn't happen in 23. And 24. And this time we have seen huge amounts in 25, and we can expect to have the same going forward. So we have to have plans in place, strategies in place to mitigate it."
