By Nelson A. King
Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism
and Co-Chair of the Global
Tourism Resilience and Crisis
Management Centre (GTRCM),
Edmund Bartlett, says the
unprecedented levels of sargassum
seaweed that washed up
on Caribbean beaches in 2018
resulted in estimated clean-up
costs of US$120 million.
In delivering opening remarks
at GTRCM Roundtable on Sargassum
on Friday, at the University
of the West Indies’ Region
Headquarters, Mona, Jamaica,
Bartlett noted that, in addition to
costly removal, “tourism stakeholders
have become increasingly
concerned about the seaweed’s
unsightly appearance, visitor
complaints and the possibility of
reputational damage,” according
to a Jamaica Ministry of Tourism
statement.
“As active stakeholders in the
sector, we understand the inestimable
value of tourism to stable
and prosperous Caribbean economies,”
Bartlett said. “Tourism
remains the single most important
catalyst of sustained economic
livelihoods in the region.”
He said the Caribbean is “the
most tourism-dependent region
of the world, where it is the main
economic sector in 16 out of 18
Caribbean states and supports
close to 3 million jobs.”
Noting forecasts of a 12 percent
growth in tourist arrivals to
the region for 2019, Bartlett said,
“Despite these promising indicators
and its (tourism’s) historical
resilience, we remain well aware
that the tourism sector is very
fragile and prone to disruptive
elements.
“The last 10 years have witnessed
an evolution of the threats
facing the sector,” he said. “These
threats have become more unpredictable
and more devastating in
their impact and certainly more
difficult to manage.”
The statement said that sargassum
is one such threat.
Accordingly, it said the GTRCM
saw “an urgent need to facilitate
the coming together of regional
tourism and environmental
stakeholders to share ideas, best
Caribbean L 18 ife, Aug. 9-15, 2019 Q
practices and possible solutions
to the adverse effects sargassum
in having on national and
regional economies.”
The Jamaica Ministry of Tourism
said that, since 2011, thick
mats of seaweed have increased in
density to generate an 8850-kilometer
long belt, weighing 20
million metric tons, known as
“the Great Atlantic Sargassum
Belt” that extends from West
Africa to the Caribbean Sea and
Gulf of Mexico.
Scientists believe this algal
explosion in the Atlantic Ocean
and Caribbean Sea could signify
a new normal, according to the
Jamaica Ministry of Tourism.
It said the sargassum phenomenon
is believed to be driven
by a combination of man-made
and natural factors, including
climate change and increased
sea surface temperature; change
in regional winds and ocean current
patterns; and an increased
supply of nutrients from rivers,
sewage and nitrogen-based fertilizers.
In the open seas, the ministry
Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett (L) discusses
sargassum cost at UWI conference. Jamaica Ministry of Tourism
said sargassum provides “critical
habitats” for marine and bird
life.
“However, when it inundates
beaches it rots and smells,
becoming an environmental and
economic nuisance,” the statement
said.
It said tourism on Mexico’s
Caribbean Coast dropped an
estimated 35 percent in 2018
due to sargassum washing up on
the 480-kilometer-long stretch
of otherwise pristine beaches.
Bartlett told local and overseas
participants at the GTRCM
Roundtable that a strong regional
response at both the political
and technical level is urgently
required to address this rapidly
evolving sargassum problem.
“The effective countering of
this threat will require the different
nations’ governments
coming together to conduct
research, mitigate contributing
factors, identify global best practices
in adaptation strategies
and develop a comprehensive
scientific initiative to establish
the most efficient ways to collect
the sargassum in the open
sea without harming the ecosystem,”
he said.
Sargassum clean-up costs
Caribbean US$120M: Bartlett
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