San Pedro Area Rep. Says the Entire Island Stinks

While Hol Chan’s harvesting boats are out at sea scooping up sargassum, the San Pedro Town Council is tackling the problem the old-fashioned way—shovels, wheelbarrows, and a whole lot of manpower. Every day, crews are clearing the beaches and hauling the seaweed off to be used as landfill. The aim is to transform the area into a scenic community boardwalk. But not everyone’s on board. Some residents say the smell of rotting seaweed is just too much. The council says they’ve adjusted their strategy to cover the sargassum before it starts to stink. But when we asked Area Representative Andre Perez for his take, his response was blunt: “The entire island stinks anyway.”

 

Andre Perez, Area Representative, Belize Rural South

“After some days the Sargassum ferments and it releases these bad gases and smell as well, but the area where the San Pedro Town Council is covering is part of a street that should have been like a boulevard. And they’re following it up. And I’m more than sure that we’ll be covering it with sand or to it’s either way. It has to be gotten rid of. But, and that area that they’re using, I agree with it. I’m supporting it that. It is a model and I commended Town Council for doing that work there. But in terms of the smell, it’s everywhere. It’s not only where they are filling.  You walk across any area in San Pedro, it doesn’t have a beach. It’s across with everything.with sargassum.”