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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Freeman Rogers, Olivia Losbar, Maria Mónica Monsalve, Krista Campbell and Suzanne Carlson

Toxic gas, livelihoods under threat and power outages: how a seaweed causes chaos in Caribbean

Two people swim in the sea alongside a large patch of sargassum
Tourists swim in Playa del Carmen in Quintana Roo, Mexico. The leisure industry has been massively affected by the invasion of the seaweed. Photograph: Gladys Serrano/El País

Schools evacuated due to toxic gas. Smelly tap water at home. Tourist operators and fishers struggling to stay in business. Job losses. Power outages affecting tens of thousands of people at a time. Dangerous health problems. Even lives lost.

Such crises were some of the consequences of sargassum seaweed in the islands of the Caribbean in 2023, which have become common in the region since 2011, when massive blooms began inundating the shorelines in the spring and summer months.

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