TAMPA, Fla. — A massive bloom of brown seaweed, thousands of miles wide and visible from space, is making its way toward the Gulf of Mexico.
Researchers say the bloom is historically large and growing earlier in the year, but we likely won’t see much of an impact from it in the Tampa Bay area.
The seaweed is called Sargassum — it’s naturally occurring and grows in the Atlantic Ocean every year, collecting in the Caribbean Sea. In the past decade, scientists have noticed more of it in the ocean.
It’s an important habitat for certain animals that have adapted to rely on the floating algae, such as shrimp, crab, sea turtles and tuna, but when it dies by coastlines it can lower water quality and emits a rotten egg-like smell.
The large amount of seaweed can often hamper beach tourism in the Caribbean Islands and have negative economic effects.
Right now the bulk of the bloom is centralized in the Caribbean Sea but portions of it are breaking off and heading towards Florida, including some seaweed washing up near the Florida Keys.
10 Tampa Bay talked with University of South Florida Oceanography Professor Dr. Chuanmin Hu who says the bloom itself doesn't move — pieces will break away and Tampa Bay area beaches won't see much of it.
That's because the seaweed will follow the Gulf Stream current, which moves around Cuba, past the Florida Keys and then makes its way around Miami and the east coast of Florida, its those beaches where the seaweed will likely wash ashore.
"It's a natural plant is not an invasive species. no matter how much Sargassum we'll land on the east coast beaches, the west coast of Florida is largely spared every year [and] this year is no exception," Dr. Hu says.
Nevertheless, they still anticipate there will soon be an impact on beaches in South Florida where the brown seaweed washes ashore.
"There's impact on the beach. I think the managers around Florida are prepared to remove this because they're experienced from the past 30 years. So they don't let Sargassum decompose, they simply remove those before they decompose," Dr. Hu says.