Sargasso weed.

[penfold]

Interesting idea here which makes a lot of sense:

Sinking Seaweed to Capture Carbon and Clean Up Caribbean Coasts

My only concern is that we understand so little of how the deep sea functions and interacts with the surface that we could easily create terrible unintended consequences.

Doesn't really explain it much; does the sargassum lose buoyancy once below 135m?

 

[capnsensible]

My last east west crossing was a few years ago. We saw masses of plastic stuff of all sorts caught up in vast tracts of seaweed...

 

[capnsensible]

West East normally sees the .....sea covered in jellyfish. Swimming out the window. Even drawing up buckets of water for cleaning needed care.

 

[Wansworth]

Cleaning up some ofthe ocean could give a purpose to yachtsmen’s voyages and certainly going to unpopulated islands and cleaning the beaches would give meaning to an expedition craft.We are all to blame in some way.I recall in the ria de Vigo 30 years ago an old woman tipping here rubbish in the ria,she had always done so but then her household waste contained plastic which magically disappeared or the trawl net off Fastnet brought up a catch completely dowsed in paint,a ships paint locker had been tidied up……into the sea

 

[KevinV]

Doesn't really explain it much; does the sargassum lose buoyancy once below 135m?

Would water pressure collapse the air pockets that make it float? Another project I read about was baling the stuff - compressing it made it sink (they were going to dump the bales in the Mariana trench I think) - can't find that one right now though

 

[veshengro]

" We saw masses of plastic stuff of all sorts caught up in vast tracts of seaweed... "

That's a sad sight to see. About 70 miles off Finisterre to the South West I came close to a big area of abandoned Mist Net with possibly 8 or 9 Sea Birds trapped in it, feet tangled and unable to take off although they all tried as I got closer. Never felt so helpless, single handed and I couldn't risk a fouled prop/Hydrovane, so I couldn't even put them out of their misery with the boat hook.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Cleaning up some ofthe ocean could give a purpose to yachtsmen’s voyages and certainly going to unpopulated islands and cleaning the beaches would give meaning to an expedition craft.We are all to blame in some way.I recall in the ria de Vigo 30 years ago an old woman tipping here rubbish in the ria,she had always done so but then her household waste contained plastic which magically disappeared or the trawl net off Fastnet brought up a catch completely dowsed in paint,a ships paint locker had been tidied up……into the sea

The volume of plastic in the sea is not really down to the likes of the old lady or folks who chuck their plastic into the sea. It’s coming from inefficient waste processing that ends up washed out to sea.

In Aruba the waste tip is stacked up right next to the sea, same in the Maldives, the UK also has old landfill washing into the sea. India and the far east wash huge amounts out to sea, especially during the monsoon; at least two documentaries, one on the Indian river of plastic and the other on old UK garbage piles eroding into the sea.

 

[Wansworth]

The volume of plastic in the sea is not really down to the likes of the old lady or folks who chuck their plastic into the sea. It’s coming from inefficient waste processing that ends up washed out to sea.

In Aruba the waste tip is stacked up right next to the sea, same in the Maldives, the UK also has old landfill washing into the sea. India and the far east wash huge amounts out to sea, especially during the monsoon; at least two documentaries, one on the Indian river of plastic and the other on old UK garbage piles eroding into the sea.

Yes of course your right….but the same principal applies out of sight out of mind

 

[SaltyC]

Interesting idea here which makes a lot of sense:

Sinking Seaweed to Capture Carbon and Clean Up Caribbean Coasts

My only concern is that we understand so little of how the deep sea functions and interacts with the surface that we could easily create terrible unintended consequences.

Completely agree, unfortunately Politicians do not understand the Law of unintended consequences, don't 'What if ' and analyse possibilities just grab a quick (alleged) fix.

 

[geem]

Firstly the sea is very different to 20 years ago - when I crossed the Atlantic then we saw maybe one bottle or bit of plastic every two or three hours in open ocean. This year we saw 2 in 16 days. So the macro plastics are not being pumped out nearly so visibly although micro ones are growing and growing.

But the big picture is 7 billion humans not a few islands and a few million affected by a byproduct of global change that is acting as a negative feedback on CO2 increases. That is very very lucky for the vast majority.

You're assuming all the plastic crosses the Atlantic. The Rio magdalena empties 1/3 of Colombia in to the Caribbean sea. Its notorious for rubbish.
If you travel west there is a lot of rubbish. The beaches in Colombia are full of plastic. Third world countries have an uneducated population when it comes to litter.
Crossing the Atlantic last year we had 3 large pieces of discarded fishing net hit our towed turbine. The third piece broke it. We have never had this happen before. We are ruining the world unfortunately

 

[RupertW]

You're assuming all the plastic crosses the Atlantic. The Rio magdalena empties 1/3 of Colombia in to the Caribbean sea. Its notorious for rubbish.
If you travel west there is a lot of rubbish. The beaches in Colombia are full of plastic. Third world countries have an uneducated population when it comes to litter.
Crossing the Atlantic last year we had 3 large pieces of discarded fishing net hit our towed turbine. The third piece broke it. We have never had this happen before. We are ruining the world unfortunately

I can only talk about the east west crossing and my particular experience but that stretch is remarkably cleaner of visible plastic than years ago. I’m not surprised that downwind of the Caribbean there is a lot more but that will small beer compared to the Chinese rivers pumping out everything from garbage to industrial pollution.

 

[geem]

I can only talk about the east west crossing and my particular experience but that stretch is remarkably cleaner of visible plastic than years ago. I’m not surprised that downwind of the Caribbean there is a lot more but that will small beer compared to the Chinese rivers pumping out everything from garbage to industrial pollution.

One river in Panama that we were anchored near for a few days removed the galvanising from our anchor chain completely! The Chinese are not the only people pumping chemicals in to rivers

 

[penfold]

One river in Panama that we were anchored near for a few days removed the galvanising from our anchor chain completely! The Chinese are not the only people pumping chemicals in to rivers

Hope you didn't go swimming. On the plus side it may have descaled your lavvy pipes.

 

[Wansworth]

Hope you didn't go swimming. On the plus side it may have descaled your lavvy pipes.

So much for paradise

 

[veshengro]

The last time I was sailing in the Med (more than 10 years ago) there was a very high profile campaign running about saving the Sea Turtles. I bought one of the everlasting string shopping bags to avoid using Supermarket carrier bags when ashore shopping for stores. Apparently the poor old Turtles mistake poly bags for Jelly Fish and die from ingesting the bags
I was bound North up the coast towards a place called Argos, about a mile or so offshore admiring the high cliffs of the land in that area. In the distance I saw a cloud of dust roll down the cliff face and thought " How far do falling rocks bounce out to sea?"... Less than ten minutes later and now closer, I saw another cliff fall, but on looking through the binoculars I saw a Tipper lorry, about a 3 yard size on the cliff top, pull away out of sight.
I then realised I was running into an area of rubbish floating on the sea surface, mostly consisting of plastic bags, full and tied at the handles. Dozens of plastic bottles and plastic food trays boosted the total mass.

A few days later I spoke to an Englishman who had something to do with the local yacht charter business, and when I told of what I had seen, he said that Greece had recently been given a big grant from the EEC for sea conservation.
I said I didn't think they were using the cash for conservation and he said, " No, they probably bought the tipper lorries with it"....

 

[Wansworth]

The last time I was sailing in the Med (more than 10 years ago) there was a very high profile campaign running about saving the Sea Turtles. I bought one of the everlasting string shopping bags to avoid using Supermarket carrier bags when ashore shopping for stores. Apparently the poor old Turtles mistake poly bags for Jelly Fish and die from ingesting the bags
I was bound North up the coast towards a place called Argos, about a mile or so offshore admiring the high cliffs of the land in that area. In the distance I saw a cloud of dust roll down the cliff face and thought " How far do falling rocks bounce out to sea?"... Less than ten minutes later and now closer, I saw another cliff fall, but on looking through the binoculars I saw a Tipper lorry, about a 3 yard size on the cliff top, pull away out of sight.
I then realised I was running into an area of rubbish floating on the sea surface, mostly consisting of plastic bags, full and tied at the handles. Dozens of plastic bottles and plastic food trays boosted the total mass.

A few days later I spoke to an Englishman who had something to do with the local yacht charter business, and when I told of what I had seen, he said that Greece had recently been given a big grant from the EEC for sea conservation.
I said I didn't think they were using the cash for conservation and he said, " No, they probably bought the tipper lorries with it"....

What a sad tale

 

[veshengro]

True yarn. I've still got the 'Save the Turtles' string bag somewhere. I can't quite remember but I think the major force behind the campaign was an UK University, one of the Oceanographic Departments who had also been given a grant for research and admin of the scheme. The scheme was still running when I wintered in Kalamata that year, 2009 I think.

 

[Wansworth]

True yarn. I've still got the 'Save the Turtles' string bag somewhere. I can't quite remember but I think the major force behind the campaign was an UK University, one of the Oceanographic Departments who had also been given a grant for research and admin of the scheme. The scheme was still running when I wintered in Kalamata that year, 2009 I think.

On the ria side ofCamarinas quite obvious signes of builderstipping rubble into the sea back in 1990 andyetregional government spending cash on tourist blurb as town famous for its knitting……no Joined up thinking

 

[Beneteau381]

Fascinating that heavy metals such as cadmium and arsenic are apparently being found in sargassum. The background level of arsenic is 1.5 μg/L in seawater, so it looks as if there is a biological concentration mechanism in the weed. Or the tests using the weed as fertiliser are concentrating the metals by piling weed in heaps above soil.

If there were a poison problem, would fish and crustaceans survive in the weed ? Perhaps Geem can dig around on his next windsurf excursion ?

The bloom will probably be killed off by the next El NiNo event

Its just been confirmed we are in El Nino now?

El Niño returns this year, what can the world expect?

 

[geem]

So much for paradise

Panama is certainly not paradise. The city of Colon is aptly named. It looks like the footage you see of bombed out parts of Ukraine but its never been bombed. The crime is off the scale. You can't walk down the main street in Colon without being mugged.
Portobello, where we were anchored and lost the galvanising is a sh1t hole.
Going up the Rio Chagras was a highlight. Anchoring in the jungle surrounded by amazing wildlife and howler monkeys was amazing.
Bocas del Torro, in the North was not too bad, but the officials are crooks and on the take. They basically steal from you through the threat of not clearing you in. Disgusting.
San Blas is nice but over rated in my view.
Panama would not be on my list of places to visit again.
I might pass through on the way to the Pacific