Sargassum disaster in Tobago

“The Tobago House of Assembly is treating this as an emergency, as a natural disaster and therefore the same kind of approach that we would use in treating with a disaster that is the approach that we would be using going forward.” Director of the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Linford Beckles, made an appeal for the affected communities, as according to him, since 2011 the Caribbean has seen sargassum deposits but this year has been the worst occurrence to date.

“The Tobago House of Assembly is making every effort to make the kind of immediate intervention that would bring some relief and over the coming days the intervention would be intensified. “We note the health and safety concerns faced in the communities and we ask for your patience, we ask for your cooperation in this process.

“This may not be the end of this issue that we are having. As a matter of fact, I may want to be so bold to say that over time, we expect the problem to get worse,” he said.

“This may not be the end of this issue that we are having. As a matter of fact, I may want to be so bold to say that over time, we expect the problem to get worse.” General Manager of Blue Waters Inn, Curtis Lee, who was present at the meeting, explained that he was indeed pleased with the initiative. “This year we have seen unprecedented amounts of seaweed in the Speyside area. Hopefully, if we all work together, we can solve this problem in the medium term. This is a regional problem and we have to find a regional solution in the longer term.” A call is also being made to the Caribbean Tourism Organisation to get on board with the initiative.