Castries, St Lucia — The Dennery South community in Saint Lucia has embarked upon an initiative to remove the troublesome sargassum seaweed from the local coastline. The exercise includes both the disposal and recycling of the seaweed.
Chairman of the Dennery South Constituency Council, Jerome Gideon, said: “We started off by trying to remove as much of the sargassum as we could on the beachfront, especially around the Seafood Fiesta area. We utilized a backhoe and excavator, and we dug holes and scraped the seaweed from the beachfront and buried it in the holes. We also had help from a gentleman named Johannes Leonce who came in with a truck and collected truckloads of the seaweed to use as fertilizer.“
Gideon said, however, that the community and potential partners that the council has tried to engage have been slow to show their support with the activity to rid the beach of the sargussum.
Dennery resident, Joseph Charles, said: “The accumulation of the seaweed has caused a problem whereby when it rains and water gets under there, it rots and the seaweed stinks, and frankly the smell is unbearable. So what they are doing here is a measure to alleviate that.”
Gideon said the council intends to continue this activity on a weekly basis to maintain the strides achieved.