{"id":307866,"date":"2026-06-15T12:51:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/307866\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T12:51:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:51:05","slug":"sargassum-surges-on-key-biscayne-beaches-visitors-just-cope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/307866\/","title":{"rendered":"Sargassum surges on Key Biscayne beaches. Visitors just cope."},"content":{"rendered":"

It took a break for a while, but just in time for the World Cup, the sargassum is back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stinky mounds of seaweed \u2014 sometimes as high as three feet tall \u2014 are filling up Key Biscayne\u2019s Atlantic Ocean beaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was so thick Sunday morning that a tractor \u2014 hired by the Village of Key Biscayne to clear the stuff \u2014\u00a0 got stuck in the slimy mass. It was rescued (towed) by another tractor as residents watched from umbrellas near the Key Colony condo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Alex Fernandez, a Beachraker operator, hooks up a chain between two units on a beach in Key Biscayne, Fla. The tractor on the right had become stuck in mounds of sargassum as deep as three feet. Scientists say sargassum flow across the region is increasing and that this may be a record year (KBI Photo\/Tony Winton)<\/p>\n

\u201cIronic,\u201d said Dr. Chuanmin Hu, a sargassum expert. \u201cA sargassum towing machine is being towed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hu, a professor of marine science at the University of South Florida, said that while he can\u2019t make a prediction for Key Biscayne specifically, the trend for 2026 is definitely up. Researchers track sargassum across the Caribbean and have noticed that giant blobs of seaweed are observably moving toward beaches this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSargassum amount in most regions is likely to increase in June. Beaching events around the Caribbean and southeast coast of Florida will continue and likely increase,\u201d Hu\u2019s lab reported in its May update.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A screenshot from an experimental model by the University of South Florida, Ocean Circulation Lab that shows a forecast of sargassum conditions for June 17, 2026. (KBI via University of South Florida) <\/p>\n

On Key Biscayne\u2019s beach Sunday, people just coped. A man with a paddleboard carefully navigated his way across the expanse of seaweed, before launching into the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Typically on a weekend, the island\u2019s condos lay out chairs for beachgoers. But despite the sweltering heat, there were relatively few people present at midday, with the unwelcome aroma of decaying seaweed filling the air.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two visitors from Argentina, enthused about the World Cup, crossed the 20-foot sargassum barrier and swam anyway. \u201cWe came here for vacation. We don\u2019t like it too much,\u201d said Juan Ignacio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"\"Annie Rothe looks on as two beach raking units remove sargassum from a beach in Key Biscayne, Fla. Sunday June 14, 2026. (KBI Photo\/Tony Winton)<\/p>\n

Annie Rothe, who was walking alongside the tractors, said she is accustomed to sargassum from the Dominican Republic. The seaweed \u2014 believed spawned by excess nutrient pollution \u2014 makes its way to Key Biscayne and many other locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to deal with it. There\u2019s not much you can do, because it\u2019s all the chemicals that are poured into the ocean,\u201d Rothe said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n

Tony Winton is the editor-in-chief of the Key Biscayne Independent and president of Miami Fourth Estate, Inc. He worked previously at The Associated Press for three decades winning multiple Edward R. Murrow awards. He was president of the News Media Guild, a journalism union, for 10 years. Born in Chicago, he is a graduate of Columbia University. His interests are photography and technology, sailing, cooking, and science fiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took a break for a while, but just in time for the World Cup, the sargassum is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[128568,116847,589,123,125,124,128569,42951,56200,3650],"class_list":["post-307866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-beachraker","tag-chuanmin-hu","tag-featured","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-ocean-circulation-lab","tag-sargassum","tag-seaweed","tag-university-of-south-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}