AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye Seaweed harvesting

Hello all!

I am looking at getting into the possibility of planting and harvesting seaweed, and I was just wondering if anyone is already doing this here in San Pedro. I would love to meet with you/them if anyone knows of anybody doing this could you please hook me up. Thanks...........

The Fishermans Coop in Placencia do it commercially. I have contact details for the Manager if needed. It would be worth a visit to see them and see it in action

Ya Phil, That would be great if you could post the managers contact info. I would like to speak to him before going down there. Thanks for the tip. Mitch

Just a educational question: is turtle grass considered seaweed?

No, turtle grass is a species of marine grass. Best way to tell the two apart is by the fact marine grass has roots where as seaweed has what is called a holdfast. A holdfast is sort of like a root but it clings to solid objects such as rocks rather than burrowing into soft substrate

Thanks. Now I will look more carefully

Great information BassMachine! So I have another educational question (well...more than one)that I would really appreciate some help on.

1. Which one is it that covers the beaches here in San Pedro, is it the Turtle Grass (mainly)?

2. I believe I've read somewhere that it isn't good to remove it from the beaches. Any thoughts on that?

3. And if it is better environmentally to leave it (dependent on the answer to question 2) has anyone found an effective way to remove the trash/garbage from it. The only thing we do right now is rake it all up and burn it, and that it to get rid of all the trash in it.

Thanks much for any help/information you may be able to provide.

Turtle Grass is broad and flat and the most prevalent while Manatee Grass is round and thin is less so. Sargasso/Sargassum is the seasonal one with bubbles, as it's a floating seaweed and swamps our beaches for a week or two every ~November(?)

If in a local Dive Shop see if they have the Paul Humann Reef Collection of Fish ID Books. One is Reef Corals and includes Plants and has detail on these and more.

The problem with collection - in Town - is the amount of sand that goes too. I think it's the biggest contribution to beach erosion. I would like to see SPTC remove plastic and rubbish and bury it on the beach higher up the shoreline to help with our increasing erosion issues so at least we don't add to nature taking it. If doing this work myself North or South I'd do this over burning it.

Phil, without the native mangroves that once surrounded the island your point about seaweed of all types is spot on...not attractive or pleasant to smell by any means but the erosion buffer provided by Sargasso and other species is without a doubt part of the protection the beaches would normally enjoy...move a mangrove lose a beach...

True but the mangrove is long gone so that's moot. We now have to do what we can to slow Mother nature a bit WITHOUT reverting to seawalls.

There are a couple of spots near me with plenty of mangrove and still the beach has regressed twenty/thirty feet so even then it can happen.