Sargasso SOS Dominican Republic beaches

Santo Domingo.- The situation of Sargasso seaweed in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean region is “critical,” according to José Reyes López, Vice Minister of Coastal and Marine Resources of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, who was consulted on the matter in the Week of the Climate of Latin America and the Caribbean 2022.

Reyes López attributes the increase in these brown macroalgae, which are becoming more frequent, to the effects of climate change due to human activities. The arrival of Sargasso affects Dominican beach tourism, the main economic engine of the Caribbean country.

“Increasingly, as a result of climate change and the changes that the currents are generating, the Sargasso is reaching points where it had never reached our island,” said the official, giving as an example that the algae have reached Pedernales, Miches, and Puerto Plata.