Overview
- Thick mats of sargassum are covering beaches from Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale to Dania Beach and Boca Raton, with experts estimating about 10 million metric tons floating in parts of the Atlantic.
- NOAA now issues daily satellite estimates with 1‑kilometer resolution to better pinpoint seaweed hotspots and give communities more time to prepare.
- The City of Miami Beach, working with Miami‑Dade County Parks, blends and rakes the seaweed each day, then dries and hauls it to a landfill after county turtle teams survey for nests and hatchlings.
- As the seaweed rots, it releases hydrogen sulfide that smells like rotten eggs and can irritate eyes, noses, and throats, and tests show sargassum can carry arsenic and other contaminants that raise safety concerns.
- Researchers at Florida International University are testing high‑pressure methods to extract alginate for potential products, though sargassum is not approved as a food source and any use still needs more study and regulatory clearance.