Sargassum Swamps Caye Caulker Ahead of Easter Rush

Many of you are probably packing your bags and making final preparations for the massive Easter exodus set to begin on Thursday afternoon, heading to your favorite coastal getaways. But instead of the picture-perfect beaches you’re hoping for, you may be greeted by an unwelcoming sight. Sargassum has inundated several islands, including Caye Caulker, bringing with it not only an eyesore, but a strong odor that’s difficult to ignore. News Five’s Shane Williams reports.

 

Shane Williams, Reporting

It’s one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, as Belizeans flock to the cayes and coastal communities for Easter. But this year, nature is threatening to put a damper on those plans. Large mats of sargassum blanket the shores of Caye Caulker, raising concerns for both visitors and residents. Chairlady Seleny Villanueva-Pott says the village council is working tirelessly to keep the beaches clean, but the volume of seaweed is proving overwhelming, especially with a key piece of equipment temporarily out of commission.

 

Seleny Villanueva-Pott, Chairlady, Caye Caulker

“ The Sargassum, it’s a little bit hard to deal with. We do have a beach raker. Unfortunately, we’ve had a part that’s been corroded. We sent to get it fixed out in Spanish Lookout. So we are hoping that is fixed by the end of the day. With those beach rakers, the amount of work and sargassum that it collects for the day cannot compare to the manpower.”

 

And the timing couldn’t be worse. Easter weekend is a major economic driver for the island. Mark Cherington has been operating as a tour guide out of Caye Caulker for the past thirty-two years. He has seen sargassum this bad before but never this early in the season.

 

Mark Cherington, Tour Guide

“Been more aggressive than other years. Last year, late inna the season ih mi like this, but this early in the season you noh really see it like that, but this year, yeah coming out you see islands and islands and islands. So you know, it’s gonna be bad.”

 

For tour operators like Cherington, the effects go beyond aesthetics and already hurting business. The sargassum is disrupting marine life and making it harder to carry out daily tours.

 

Mark Cherington

“I mean it affect it in a lot of ways because then when we come out we buy sardines to feed the sharks and sting rays and a lot of the people them weh do catch the sardines ih hard fu find them. Because then they would be right under these and you can’t really see it. And then the stench when this thing dead, yeah, it cause a huge problem everywhere. It’s been like this for a couple years now. Everybody, cry about it. Hopefully we could do more and more and see progress.”

 

Back at the council, efforts are ongoing to get the beach raker repaired in time to tackle the buildup before visitors arrive in full force.

 

Seleny Villanueva-Pott

“We’re hoping to have it up and running before the end of the day to try and keep the island clean. But we’ve never seen it in this magnitude. I believe it’s all across the country that’s reporting the same thing. It’s so unfortunate that it came so early and I’m hoping that we could have cleaner beaches for this weekend.”

 

Still, despite the challenge, there’s a message for Belizeans planning their Easter escape. Come, enjoy, but be mindful.

 

Mark Cherington

“Just stay out the grass. Yeah, you noh want get stin up mein ’cause a lot of times they have in small orgasms like, these shrimp and that kind of stuff. Just stay away from the grass and then enjoy unnu self. Ey Easter. Happy Easter Belize.”

 

Shane Williams for News Five.

 

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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