In Boca Chica (Dominican Rep.) tourism drops 85% due to sargasso invasion

11-06-23

The beach of Boca Chica, a town near Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), has been invaded during the last two months by sargassum. This has caused tourist activity in the coastal area of the municipality to drop by 85%, according to information from the City Council.

The more than 500 aparthotels that operate in the area have seen their activity diminished in spite of the efforts of the authorities of Boca Chica to collect the smelly seaweed, which has arranged brigades of workers and more than 30 trucks. Between them, they have collected between 1,500 and 2,000 tons of sargassum in the last months.

Also, according to the information of Listín Diario, the owners and administrators of the businesses of the zone, very worried about the situation, have also joined voluntarily to the removal of the sargassum.

"Right now the visit of bathers to the beach has been considerably reduced, because people do not want to bathe because of the contamination of the waters and the unpleasant odor that emanates from them", confirmed the mayor of Boca Chica, Fermín Brito, who appealed to the national government to "face together this overwhelming problem".

The situation has caused that hundreds of people who came to enjoy the waters this Saturday could not do it because in some points the coverage is up to the deep part of the beach and in the rest it requires to go several meters deep.

"One comes wanting to bathe and enjoy a little, but that makes you want to leave because it is very annoying and has a bad smell," said one of those who was in Boca Chica.

Likewise, merchants, vendors and operators of small boats that offer tours to visitors say that the presence of sargassum makes the area less dynamic and they hope it will clear up quickly.

Although the arrival of sargassum in different areas has become a relatively normal event in recent years, every time it occurs it causes alarm.

Sargassum in 2023

Last March the Oceanography Laboratory of the University of Florida reported that 13 million tons of sargassum had been detected spread across the Atlantic Ocean, an unprecedented figure for the time, taking into account that the highest density is registered between June and July of each year.

"This year's sargassum acreage is likely to be one of the largest ever recorded," the report said.

Sargassum originates in the tropical Atlantic and is believed to be the result of climate variability and other natural and unnatural processes.

Experts believe that the eastern Caribbean is where sargassum is most present, as it is where it makes landfall after crossing the Atlantic from Africa; from there it is distributed to the various islands, Central America, South America, the Gulf of Mexico and Florida.