Team Herald
MARGAO: The presence of brown seaweed has turned out to be a major irritant for the local fishermen, tourists and those running businesses like shacks along Salcete’s coastline.
What has left the traditional fishermen community perplexed is that this brown seaweed is different to straw-like seaweeds they are used to seeing.
In this case, it is the type of seaweed and more importantly the huge quantity of it that has washed ashore, which they emphasise is unusual.
While some of the fishermen attribute this to climate change and tidal conditions, others think that these are getting entangled with their nets and propellers. They lamented that it is tough to remove the seaweeds and it has become a nuisance to them.
Experts feel the type of seaweed the fishermen have encountered is sargassum, which by definition is ‘a genus of large brown seaweed (a type of algae) that floats in island-like masses and never attaches to the seafloor.’
This seaweed has also troubled shack operators, water sport operators and those who have hotels and restaurants near the coastline.
There were also complaints of the seaweed having a foul stench. Shack owners also called for its immediate removal as they fear it might attract insects, which in turn could drive away tourists.
These weeds are being cleaned by staff commercial units along the coastline as well as the staff of the beach cleaning agency of the government.