Secretary of the Division of Agriculture, Marine Affairs, Marketing and the Environment in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Godwyn Adams, says the natural occurrence of the sargassum seaweed is posing to be a challenge for his division.
Speaking at the post executive council news conference on Wednesday, Adams said the phenomenon of the seaweed which has been affecting most of the Caribbean islands was no different for Tobago. He said his division spearheaded a massive clean- up campaign, but the seaweed continues to return.
“The Division of Agriculture would have taken steps to challenge the cleaning up and the movement of the seaweeds, I am sure you would have observed that it keeps coming back. The last set of cleaning we would have effected we thought that was going to be the end of the line, but it keeps coming back and with tremendous deposits on the beaches,” he said.
The Atlantic side of Tobago has been mostly affected by the sargassum. However, Adams said a structured approach would be taken to deal with the situation to see how best all the stakeholders involved in the Tobago economy are less affected.
He said the tourism oriented areas and points frequented by fishermen would be given priority, as to return the aesthetics to the areas.
“We are going to challenge the beaches that are frequently used by bathers and those areas that the fisherfolk is affected. He said beaches affected would be cleaned on a needs basis and seaweed removed would be kept at storage centres in Louis D'or, Goldsborough and Courland so it can be cured for the purpose of producing fertilisers for plants.