Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic’s famous white sand beaches aren’t so much lately as mountains of brown algae (Sargasso) overwhelm the shore, prompting one expert to call it an emergency situation.
Experts from the Dominican company Capsa and Desmi from Denmark on Monday announced a pilot program aimed at removing the seaweed from 400 linear meters of beach of an east region resort.
Another expert, César Antonio Vargas, of the environmental law organization IDARD and Blue Flag Beach certification coordinator, said the situation is of such concern it warrants president Danilo Medina’s quick intervention
“Important decisions have to made," he said quoted by diariolibre.com, noting that the seaweed piling up on the beaches, especially at Bavaro, is so overwhelming that, hoteliers haul out around 20 tons.
"The call is really for the President (Medina) and the main authorities of the country to intervene, because important decisions have to be made here from the magnitude of the problem and the impact on tourism and coastal and marine biodiversity," Vargas said.