Sargassum clean-up costs Caribbean US$120 million

Since 2011, thick mats of seaweed have increased in density to generate an 8,850-kilometer-long belt (weighing 20 million metric tons) known as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt that extends from West Africa to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Scientists believe this algal explosion in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea could signify a new normal.