Wuhloss! Seaweed is fouling our beaches. What do we do?
No need for another government study: the knowledge already exists for those who read.
by Dr. Robert D. Lucas
Recently, in the local media, there has been much concern by the authorities about the abundance of seaweed, which has been accumulating on beaches around the Island. This concern is mainly centered on the adverse reaction of tourist to the presence of seaweed on the beaches. Additionally, many suggestions for utilization of the seaweed have been put forward.
Indeed, according to local news reports, one government institution has been empowered to investigate the properties of the seaweed, in an effort to find some type of utilization for it.
Let me reiterate what I have said in the past:
“The majority of Barbadians are scientific illiterates and this illiteracy is compounded by the fact that reading seems not to be a widespread vocation on this Island.”
Seaweeds have been used in the food industry for thousands of years (in China around 600 BCE and in Ireland around 400 CE) and form a group of compounds called hydrocolloids. One particular hydrocolloid which is obtained from various species of red seaweed is called carrageenan. Carrageenan is used in food to affect its texture amongst other things.
After harvest, raw seaweed is first sorted and crude contaminants are removed by hand. The seaweed is then washed to remove salt and sand, then dried, baled, and sent to the carrageenan manufacturer. There, the seaweed is ground, and treated with hot alkali solution {e.g., 5-8% weight/volume (wt/v)} and cellulose removed from the carrageenan solution by filtration.
The resulting solution is concentrated by evaporation, and carrageenan is precipitated from solution using alcohol, then dried and ground to specification.
.The following are some of the uses for carrageenan in foods: Fat replacer; emulsifying-stabilizer, suspender, thickener and binding and gelling agents. It is used as a fat replacer in meat products. As a stabilizer in whipped cream, yogurt and emulsion-type sausages. As a binder and extender in meat products. As a fining agent in the brewing of beer. It also is used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries for its ability to act as a suspensor and viscosity enhancing agent.
It seems as though, Barbadians want to re-invent the wheel. Major producers of carrageenan are the Philippines and Ireland. Since continuity of supply maybe a problem over the years, it may be best to collect, sort, dry and ship the product to one of the above places for further processing.
Sincerely
Robert D. Lucas, Ph.D.
Food biotechnologist.
Bridgetown, Barbados
Seaweed photo courtesy of The Nation: Seaweed threat
Barbados Free Press 
“The majority of Barbadians are scientific illiterates and this illiteracy is compounded by the fact that reading seems not to be a widespread vocation on this Island.”
“The majority of Barbadians are scientific illiterates”
OhGod dontcha know it!!!
All the time, I get Bajans coming at me with these obscure 19th. century (almost obeah) beliefs that have zero standing in 21st.century scientific knowledge.
It seems that they delight in clinging to the ‘safe’ past, where things were ‘known’ and ‘understood’ -even though it was all piffle back then.
E.g. I’m talking of beliefs like.. De rain wet yuh, and yuh gyne ketch cold!
The Common Cold has been known as a virus-borne ailment for quite some time now(intentional understatement)
-but NO it’s getting wet in the rain that does it to ya!
So go home and take two Panadol prophylactically
and the PROOF is that Hey Presto -NO COLD!
See? it works! LOL
Very good and clean Dr Robert Lucas.
The government, in all cases, goes on its merry way. I wonder how many listen to the world news, or read anything to do with the environment ?
They are extraordinary good at spending taxpayers money to no gain.
I do not like the tone of this article. Very condescending and insulting. If you have a point to make do so constructively and with respect. BFP please monitor the tone these know-it-all experts project when they critisize the government which they love to do and the people of Barbados unnecessarily.
Since the reason for the abundance of seaweed has not been identified it seems a bit harsh to rush to condemn and use remarks like “The majority of Barbadians are scientific illiterates”.
Up to the time of writing this even the non-Barbadian scientists had still not determined whether there was some adverse chemical reason for the large amount of seaweed we have been seeing. In other words, no one knows if some passing cargo ship spilled its load of toxic chemicals and failed to report it to the relevant authorities.
In the absence of a solid reason for the larger than usual amount of seaweed, I see nothing wrong with a cautious approach to see whether it has been tainted by any external source or has traces of a toxin of some kind.
Notwithstanding Dr. Lucas’ expert opinion and knowledge about the processing of “typical” seaweed, I prefer to wait on the Barbadian “scientific illiterates” to either do their own testing or secure the assistance of scientific illiterates from beyond our shores to ensure that the seaweed is free from contamination and therefore, safe to process/use/consume.
An ounce of prevention is always better than a pound of cure. Thanks for the expert analysis and reminders Dr. Lucas. Perhaps you should help the local scientific illiterates to analyze the seaweed thoroughly.
On a recent low level flight from Turks and Caicos to Barbados could not help but notice the large number of tear drop shaped accumulatons of sea weed, some as large as a mile in diameter scattered throughout the Caribbean and obviously washing up all Lesser Antillian Shores. Something is up???
The process of manufacturing carrageenan from seaweed, results in the production of a pure product.There is risk analysis;chemical and microbial risk analysis. All foods have contain minute quantities of harmful substances. So I don’t see the point “scientific illiterate” is trying to make , apart from proving what i have said. Iam not concerned whether or not “anonymous finds what i have to say “condescending and insulting.”
there are lots of “so-called” authorities in this country, I wonder if anonymous thinks that, I have bought the credentials behind my name? I am the expert in this field locally,whether anonymous wants to accept it or not.
Robert D. Lucas, Ph.D, food biotechnologist
typical black person who think that he or she knows a little more than the average black person. You get this disdainful attitude.
Everybody else stupid and only they have any sense. That is why black people can’t get any further because of idiots like the writer.
To Dr. Lucas. Can carrageenan be extracted from non-red algae such as the sargassum as well?
maybe some of our older folks or historians can advise if this sudden growth in seaweed is a natural occurrence going back generations?
The Sargasso sea, which I have sailed through and marveled at several times, during my years as a merchant seaman, is up north of the west Indies in the Bermuda Triangle.
I would suggest that the reason the weed from it is arriving here in our beaches, it because the hurricanes have disturbed the currents and tides by passing across that area, and have therefor disrupted the Sargasso currents.
It is, not an uncommon occurrence to see large amounts of such weed arrive on our shores every few years. It is part of a perfectly natural cycle that anybody with a little observation, who is old enough, would understand. It happens right down all our islands.
WIll “the literate Robert D Lucas ,Phd.food biotechologist”also inform the readers of this blog why he has not been gainfully employed overthe past twenty-five years?
The seaweed is lying on the beaches, causing a nuisance, and is free for anyone to take. If the government is ‘scientifically illiterate’ and can’t handle the matter why not take the seaweed and sell it or do this food-additive production yourself?
Apparently all that needs to be done is ‘to collect, sort, dry and ship the product to one of the above places for further processing.’
Be sure to do a follow up post so we see how it works out.
i despair is it only in barbadians that believe when exposed to excessive cold or moisture that the threat of catching cold is greater? infact doesnt it have something to do with being wet and cold dropping our immune system allowing the cold to be easily caught?
Dr. Lucas, you are a scientist who have provided your vast knowledge of research to the benefit of the Barbadian populace by providing much needed scietific disclosures to explain some of the food phenomenon others might not understand. I have read every single one of your articles and found them to be very good and enligthening. Unfortunately, I have found this one to be very out of place. The tone of your mail makes you sound very arrogant and very codescending. There was no need for you to bash the literacy levels of other scientist. Alot of things that are done in this country are done on the basis that those who understand research are not given the proper resources to conduct that research. A perfect example are all those qualified people in the Ministry of Agriculture who still have not use their expertise to advance the causes of Agriculture in a big way that would be rewarding to this island. So if he opportunity is not given then the ability to provide sound scientific discourse cannot be attain. So what do we do, we ignore our experts believing them to be no good and look elsewhere for the ones that we think are good. You are sending the wrong message and so I would kindly ask you to be a bit more discreet when you write..
I think it good that some use can be made of the quantities of sargassum weed accumulating on our shores. My question (which I cannot answer as it is not my area of expertise) is what does this accumulation of weed mean. In living memory, such quantities have never appeared in the Caribbean islands..and you should see the pictures of clogged
bays in Antigua, St Barts, St Martin and other islands to the north. Across the Atlantic, great swathes of the West African coastline are being inundated with weed. What is the root cause and what are the specific ecological repercussions? I have read a number of theories. Could it be related to shifting ocean currents? If so, what is the prognosis for the future? These are some of the more profound questions to which we should be seeking answers.
Carrageenan can be extracted from other forms of seaweed. For 125 information: over the pass 25years, I have owned a business,; taught forat the Alleyne school; Been a consultant for the BDB and CAIC. taught at the Community College. Spent fours in the USA.I was a postdoctoral research associate in r DNA (genetic engineering) at the University of Massachustts -at-Amherst. abnd also reviewer in food microbiology for the Italian Journal of Food Science. I suggest you do some proper research. Unlike you, I can go where I like and work where I like.I have the credentials behind my name and the scientific publications to do so. Robert D. Lucas, Ph.D.
name; wh to do so and the scientific publications to my name
errata: Where it says: taught forat should be: at.
PS: also for 125 benefit I have also been a consultant doing work for PAHO.
Robert D.Lucas, Ph.D.
I have been fishing for about 10 years (recreationally) in the ocean, and while you used to see the occasional piece of sargassum, it was somewhat of a rarity. I can only theorize that ocean currents which normally hold the sargassum mainly in the “sargassum sea” have changed somewhat, at least temporarily, to allow such huge masses of the sargassum to travel to Barbados and other countries.
However, before all and sundry label this sargassum seaweed as a curse, and want to seek out its source and destroy it (or harvest it for fertilizer, or whatever…) I just want to remind people that the mats of sargassum seaweed are home to a huge nursery raising sea turtles and many many juvenile species of fish including dolphin, king fish, etc… Normally our open ocean is akin to a desert with scant protection for juvenile species, and often the only cover is a floating log, or piece of rope. In addition, currently many ice boats are fishing in the ocean and bringing in dolphins by the hundred, as young dolphins (5 to 15lb) are schooling under the sargassum and feeding on the bait fish seeking cover in it. This is September – our fishing season does not officially start before about November. Before this year I never had the pleasure of trolling beside a weedline hooking plentiful dolphin, and marvelling at the spectacle of sealife under the sargassum mat.
I heard that seaweed used to be used as fertilizer in the old time days. Is that true?