For months, Sargassum has been plaguing the tourist beaches of Belize. But now Belize City has also become a victim of the sargassum swarm and stench. And the Belize City Council is fighting to keep up. Jaleeza Roberts found out more:
It's the new reality, Sargassum isn't only on the coastal and island beaches, it's here on the mainland-and the City Council has one more tall task. Today we found a sanitation team cleaning up the sargassum that has inundated the coastline with harvesters and other machinery.
Ramon Menjivar, Assistant City Engineer - Belize City Council
"It is something seasonal, but is coming in every year, you know, and we at the council, as a responsible entity and governing the city, we have acted on it very urgently, as it is a very hazardous element on humans and appliances and the surrounding areas. So, we have ventured into removing it very urgently."
While previous cleanups were done manually, the council is now using a rented sargassum harvester, along with a backhoe and dump trucks to remove the seaweed from hard-to-access locations before transporting it to the dump site.
Ramon Menjivar:
"Originally, from previous experiences, we started it manually. But in areas like this here, where the landscape is different and you don't have direct accessibility to the water, we need to use more mechanical equipment."
"Thus far, we have about, yesterday we made about six loads, which is about 100 tons of Sargassum out of this particular area. And we have remaining other areas, like the hangar area, that we did some manual removal. And we have other areas that are being deposited as well, like by the Bird's Isle area. There is a little area by the bridge that accommodates a lot as well."
These are actually peak months for sargassum in this region and the seaweed swarm won't end until October. So for now the council has found a temporary solution to what is looking to be a long term problem. Jaleeza Roberts, 7News.
