[Coral-List] Sargassum

[Austin Bowden-Kerby]

Dear Melissa,

I had our local *Sargassum polycystum* analyzed here in Fiji a few years
back and it was 8% potassium wet weight, and also very good source of N and
P, as well as packed with trace nutrients like boron, copper and iron, etc
that are otherwise hard to come by.  It makes an ideal organic fertilizer
and is of high value.  While it is not often so badly out of control here,
as unicorn and orange tailed surgeonfish love to eat it, it does wash up in
smaller drifts seasonally. I find it best to harvest it fresh before it
begins to fall apart, and to rinse it off with fresh water, before throwing
it immediately into bananas, around coconut trees, and onto cassava and
sweet potato plantations etc, where it does an amazing job at providing
time-released nutrients.  Try it!

We are teaching local farmers, who can often not afford commercial
fertilizers anyway, to take advantage of what nature provides and as a way
of cleaning the beaches, as rotting sargassum seems to be ideal habitat for
breeding sandflies.

Stay safe, as the delta COVID variant is an entirely different kettle of
fish.  Fiji was COVID free for a full year, but this variant managed to
jump out of quarantine and past two layers of partially vaccinated
quarantine staff, and we now have a raging epidemic.  >400 new cases per
day and no commercial flights in or out of the country.  I have a team of 5
volunteers stuck now on a remote island site for the past ten weeks, with
no end in sight!
Austin

Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
Corals for Conservation
Sustainable Environmental Livelihoods for the Future
P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
https://www.corals4conservation.org
https://www.facebook.com/C4Conservation
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009j6wb
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009j6wb>
TEDx talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PRLJ8zDm0U
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
<https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/>


Teitei Livelihoods Centre
Km 20 Sigatoka Valley Road, Fiji Islands
(679) 938-6437
http:/www.
<http://permacultureglobal.com/projects/1759-sustainable-environmental-livelihoods-farm-Fiji>
teiteifiji.org
http://permacultureglobal.com/projects/1759-sustainable-environmental-livelihoods-farm-Fiji
https://www.facebook.com/teiteifarmstay
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/happy-chickens-for-food-security-and-environment-1/





On Fri, Jul 2, 2021 at 8:52 PM MelissaE Keyes via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Hello, Listers
> Sorry I didn’t provide a hot link yesterday.  But going to YouTube and
> searching sargassum st Croix, I found several videos.  It’s two meters deep
> on a lot of beaches.  Same sort of videos from Cancun and Yucatán, except
> deeper.
> No mention in any news that I’ve seen.  Doesn’t seem to be any way to
> fight the stuff, getting to be more and more every year
> Cheers
> Melissa E Keyes.
>
>
> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
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