Santo Domingo.- An Environment Ministry official on Tuesday said Dominican Republic’s hoteliers have no reason to panic over the seaweed reaching the beaches from the Sargasso Sea, south of Bermuda.
Biologist Bienvenido Santana, deputy minister for Marine and Coastal Resources, says hotels should collect the seaweed by hand and avoid erosion damage to the beaches by backhoes and bulldozers.
He said the seaweed should be deposited in an open area, not far from the beach, where it can degrade and won’t give off any smell from rotting.
Speaking on the TV show "Tendiendo el Huerto" the official said seaweed forms part of the coastal ecosystem, preventing erosion by compacting and retaining sand and forms dunes. “Those portions of seaweed that emerge from the Sargasso Sea, due to changes in ocean currents, wind patterns and storm waves and possibly climate change, are packed with diversity, which enriches the Dominican coast.”