The town of Palm Beach has made it clear that moving ahead, it will deal with any significant accumulation of seaweed on its beaches right away.
The Town Council decided to take into consideration additional raking services for beach areas from Angler Avenue north during its most recent meeting and instructed staff to pursue an hourly rate contract for special projects and beach cleanups.
Sargassum, a species of seaweed that floats in big masses on the ocean’s surface, would be taken out during beach cleanups. According to local officials, it may be hazardous to eggs and hatchlings of sea turtles that are nesting.
Since sargassum has been washing up on the town’s beaches more frequently and in greater quantities for several years, council members and town workers have been debating permanent and temporary solutions to get rid of it.
Lights out for sea turtle nesting season, which runs from Tuesday through October 31.
Options for Seaweek removal are being considered by Palm Beach, which will look into ways to get rid of sargassum from its beaches.
Removal of sargasum is prioritized:
New sea turtle nest protections are approved in Palm Beach, and mechanical beach cleanup will continue.
At the meeting on September 13, council member Bobbie Lindsay commented, “This may be a new normal.” “In the more than 20 years that I’ve been up here, I’ve never seen this much sargassum. I can assure you that this year was unlike any other I’ve ever witnessed.”
Sargassum was all over the beaches last month, and although it has started to recede (especially at beaches in the North End from Angler Avenue to the inlet jetty), the town anticipates a big regrowth of it next spring, which is when sea turtle breeding season begins.
According to Council President Maggie Zeidman, setting up a contract for special projects and beach cleanups would be a proactive measure that would enable the town to remove sargassum when the situation calls for it.
She stated that this has been going on since around 2011. “Sargassum is entering the area and accumulating. I think it would be a good idea to consider taking proactive, regular steps to get rid of it. We must keep an eye on it because we might not always need it.”
Seaweed removal would take place as part of a trial program run in conjunction with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission if it were necessary the following year.
A portion of the seaweed would be placed next to the jetty through the program and covered with a thin coating of sand.
Paul Brazil, director of public works, explained to the council that this would prevent sea turtle hatchlings from migrating toward the inlet and instead direct them toward the ocean.
On the beach, the remaining seaweed would be buried and covered with a layer of sand that was about two feet thick. According to Brazil, that quantity is required for sea turtles to construct a nest for their hatchlings.
In order to ascertain whether each action has an impact on nesting, both would be carried out and observed during the following nesting season.
According to a $50,000 agreement that is about to expire, the town already rakes Midtown Beach and Phipps Ocean Park.
Brazil stated that it would make sense for the town to include that region in a new beach raking contract because that area, which is in the shadow of the jetty, has the biggest seaweed issues starting from Angler Avenue north.
There is more seaweed there, according to Brazil.
Brazil estimated that a contract covering Angler Avenue north, or about three-quarters of a mile, would be worth about $100,000.
Brazil claimed that because the Citizens’ Association of Palm Beach pays to clean the majority of beaches south of Sloan’s Curve, the contract would not cover beach raking in the South End of the town.
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