What's Up with the Seaweed Piles on Beaches Here? (Fort Lauderdale: moving, beach)

[HotandHumid]

I took a long bike ride this past sunday stopping at the section of the beach at the end of Oakland Park Boulevard only to find piles of seaweed covering the shoreline. You couldn't really even get down to the water without having to walk through the seaweed and I noticed large patches of it floating in the water and people who did go into the water, removing it from their hair and shoulders as they were coming out of the water.


I then road my bike down the east side of AIA all the way down to Las Olas Boulevard and saw the same sitation on the beach all along my ride route.


It used to be that I'd see buldozers out in the morning picking up the seaweed and grating the sand but it seems this has not been the case lately.


As we've had no hurricane or intense tropical storms recently, does anyone know why we're getting so much rotting seaweed on the beaches here?

[kmarc]

Originally Posted by HotandHumid

I took a long bike ride this past sunday stopping at the section of the beach at the end of Oakland Park Boulevard only to find piles of seaweed covering the shoreline. You couldn't really even get down to the water without having to walk through the seaweed and I noticed large patches of it floating in the water and people who did go into the water, removing it from their hair and shoulders as they were coming out of the water.


I then road my bike down the east side of AIA all the way down to Las Olas Boulevard and saw the same sitation on the beach all along my ride route.


It used to be that I'd see buldozers out in the morning picking up the seaweed and grating the sand but it seems this has not been the case lately.


As we've had no hurricane or intense tropical storms recently, does anyone know why we're getting so much rotting seaweed on the beaches here?

We used to go down to the beach at the end of Oakland Park all the time, back in the day. Great place to hang out, catch some rays, do a little swimming. I don't ever recall it being like that, all piled up with seaweed. Although I will say that storms way out at sea can cause that sort of thing to happen. Never experienced it in South Florida, though, only on the Gulf side. It's really gross to swim in, too. It can wrap around the legs and torso, depending on what kind of seaweed it is. At the very least, it brushes up against you and feels icky.

[kmarc]

BTW, there has been a tropical storm spinning out at sea off the coast of the Carolinas for like the last few days, it's barely moved. I don't know how the ocean currents work, so I have no idea if that's what's causing it.

[ruski]

Originally Posted by HotandHumid

I took a long bike ride this past sunday stopping at the section of the beach at the end of Oakland Park Boulevard only to find piles of seaweed covering the shoreline. You couldn't really even get down to the water without having to walk through the seaweed and I noticed large patches of it floating in the water and people who did go into the water, removing it from their hair and shoulders as they were coming out of the water.


I then road my bike down the east side of AIA all the way down to Las Olas Boulevard and saw the same sitation on the beach all along my ride route.


It used to be that I'd see buldozers out in the morning picking up the seaweed and grating the sand but it seems this has not been the case lately.


As we've had no hurricane or intense tropical storms recently, does anyone know why we're getting so much rotting seaweed on the beaches here?

Just about every morning, there are tractors with rakes cleaning the seaweed and loading it into trucks that haul it away. At least all along Fort Lauderdale beach between Sunrise and Yankee Clipper.

[ruski]

And the weed showed up in droves after the storms we had at the end of May. And it keeps on coming over every day despite recent calm weather.

[TreeZoo]

That darn nature thing! Messing up our beaches again.


Dear snowflakes, get a clue.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by TreeZoo

That darn nature thing! Messing up our beaches again.


Dear snowflakes, get a clue.

LOL! I think you may be on to something. FWIW, kelp is known in Japan as khombu. When cleaned and dried there are white crystals on it that are natural MSG. I toss a small strip of khombu into soups about 20 minutes before serving to make some of the best tasting soup you can find. I have to wonder if there were cannibal Florida natives that enjoyed the tourists of the time in tasty soups.

[FloridaDude]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

LOL! I think you may be on to something. FWIW, kelp is known in Japan as khombu. When cleaned and dried there are white crystals on it that are natural MSG. I toss a small strip of khombu into soups about 20 minutes before serving to make some of the best tasting soup you can find. I have to wonder if there were cannibal Florida natives that enjoyed the tourists of the time in tasty soups.

This is Sargassum seaweed here in S.E. Florida. Not edible. We had the most sargassum I've ever seen here in 40 years, that the original poster mentioned. Just came about from that huge storm that was out at sea along the coast, as was mentioned.

[Tominftl]

Seaweed on the east coast and Red Tide on the West coast. What a choice. That’s why I rarely go to the beach anymore,.