Blue Economy Responds to Sargassum Invasion

We also asked Minister Perez about his ministry’s response to the sargassum issue plaguing Belize’s coast. According to Minister Perez, a team consisting of members from the Ministry of Blue Economy, Sustainable Development, and Tourism was sent to Playa del Carmen, Mexico to observe a cleanup initiative that is currently being undertaken. The ministry is now preparing to secure this service to clean up our local beaches and coastline. He explained that it will be a costly venture, but one that is absolutely necessary.

Andre Perez

Andre Perez, Minister of Blue Economy and Civil Aviation

“We actually sent a team, three ministries, the Ministry of Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Tourism, and the Blue Economy, we sent off a team to Playa Del Carmen to see a project they are doing, a very ambitious project and it is working. They have adopted six kilometers of beach and the work they are doing is tremendous. It involved a fleet of pontoon boats that has the capability of floating on very shallow waters and the idea is not to wait for the sargassum to get to shores but rather capture it on the waters. This fleet of boats should be capturing it along the waters in front the island and transporting it to a much bigger barge, one that is able to hold this sargassum. We can then take it to a collection site where it can be distributed for landfill and other options, even for methane and energy. The people that have offered this have come to San Pedro. We have taken them on a reconnaissance to look at the waters. They have been on the boats to look at how the currents are. But in Belize we have a very unique situation that is much better than what our counterparts in Quinta Roo have, the reef. The reef has channels. When you take those flight coming into Belize City you can clearly see those swats of sargassum coming in and they come through these cuts and they come to the shallow waters. It disperses and comes to the island. So, we believe that and make those attempts to capture that sargassum in those cuts.”