Sargassum piles up on Lantana's town beach in May. File photo/The Coastal Star
By Mary Thurwachter
Although Lantana hasn’t formally given the green light to raking sargassum off its beach, the town appears to be headed in that direction — but the earliest the raking could begin is in August.
That’s because the town needs approval from the sea turtle nesting monitors to be able to rake the beach during the summer and fall, according to Marc Fichtner, Lantana’s marine safety supervisor.
Although the town has a turtle monitoring service agreement with D.B. Ecological Services Inc., it had not signed up specifically for monitoring for mechanical beach raking, the Town Council learned at its June 9 meeting.
“They informed us that at this point in the nesting season, when no nest marking has occurred, mechanical beach cleaning cannot proceed until nest marking begins and a minimum of 65 days have passed,” said Maria Rios, executive assistant to the town manager. “This waiting period allows any incubating nests to emerge before any mechanical activities take place.”
Rios said the town would first need to enter into an agreement for sea turtle monitoring specific to mechanical beach raking, followed by a separate agreement authorizing the raking itself.
Town Manager Brian Raducci said the town would seek those necessary agreements, but that would mean raking couldn’t begin until August at the earliest.
“The monitoring would cost about $5,000 for the season,” Raducci said. “The raking would cost between $1,000 and $1,200 for twice-a-month service.”
Mayor Karen Lythgoe said the town wanted to do raking several years ago, but “it was not real popular.”
Lantana’s policy has traditionally been to limit raking and not to remove sargassum. The thinking was that seaweed was essential for marine life, kept replacement sand on beaches and provided nutrients to plants on dunes.
In April, freshman Council member Jesse Rivero asked for the subject to be revisited and in June that happened.
In advance of that, on May 12 Raducci had Fichtner share his views, based on his being at the beach every day, talking with experts and hearing from beachgoers.
Fichtner said he was seeing an increase in sargassum at Lantana Beach and that patrons were becoming progressively annoyed by it.
Fichtner had spoken with Brian LaPointe, Ph.D, a research professor at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, who said 14 million tons of sargassum is expected in the Caribbean this year, the most ever recorded.
At some point, whether that’s June, July or August, some of that is going to hit Lantana’s beach, Fichtner related.
The bacteria that form from rotting sargassum are a problem, he said. One of the biggest things with that is hydrogen sulfide and ammonia produced by decomposing sargassum, which is toxic to animals and people.
Raking the beach, Fichtner said, could prevent that. It would also remove litter and other pollutants and would make it safer for sea turtle hatchlings, which can get trapped in sargassum piles while trying to get to the ocean, he said.
Vice Mayor Kem Mason asked whether hand raking could be done.
Raducci said he thought the town would be hard-pressed to find somebody to do it.
“Depending on the depth of the seaweed it could be incredibly heavy,” he said.
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