Millions of Dollars Later, Sargassum Crisis Remains Unresolved

Sargassum is piling up again along Belize’s coast, bringing steep costs for cleanup and relief efforts. Resorts and local councils are spending thousands each month, with San Pedro alone allocated twenty-five million dollars for beach clearing and upgrades. Last year, Caye Caulker hauled in more than one hundred and ninety tons of seaweed each week, and residents warn this season could be just as bad. While projects to turn sargassum into energy are underway, the bigger challenge, stopping it at sea, remains unsolved. Blue Economy Minister Andre Perez says funding is there, but the scale of the problem continues to overwhelm local response efforts.

 

Andre Perez, Minister of Blue Economy

“There’s many different ways we can get the funding, right? So and we can’t quantify it because we can’t say there’s so much money available. For example, from BTB they are committed. And back again to where they have to allocate the funds when it comes to that issue of building the Sargassum structure. It’s not that the funding is there, but the funding has to be diverted. For example the council and the village council, they’re able to access on a monthly basis ten thousand dollars on BTB. But you have to do your work, present your papers, but they give you that money, and it’s being allocated for Hopkins, for Caye Caulker, for Seine Bight, Placencia, and the village councils are able to access this. This funding is there. So that is part of helping out. So we can’t say there’s so much money allocated. We have invested already, allocated twenty-five million dollars just for San Pedro alone in terms of the beach cleanup and enhancing. But again, it’s not something that’s there available, it’s allocated. But again, with budget constraints, we’re there. However to quantify it. I wouldn’t be able to tell you that.”

 

Perez noted that while pilot projects like BIM’s fertilizer initiative show promise, the core challenge remains finding an efficient way to collect the seaweed at sea before it rots onshore.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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