Miami-Dade County beaches are facing a growing problem with sargassum, a type of floating brown algae. In July, 9,000 tons of seaweed were removed from county beaches, marking the highest amount ever cleared in a single month.
Chris Bumpus, chief of conservation for Miami-Dade county’s parks, recreation and open spaces department, oversees the cleaning of 17 miles of county beaches. He noted that the beach was clean for only about an hour in July, describing it as a "heavy season."
The amount of sargassum washing ashore in regions including south Florida, west Africa, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean has doubled every five years since 2011. This summer, satellite imagery showed the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt contained 33.5 million tons of seaweed, slightly less than the 38 million tons recorded in 2025.
Scientists attribute the increased blooms to factors such as nitrogen and phosphorus from rivers, warmer water temperatures, and ocean circulation. Brian LaPointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch, suggests the climate crisis plays a role, with ocean warming leading to more extreme rain events that flush nutrients into the ocean.
Miami-Dade County spends $3 million annually on sargassum removal, funded by tourist development taxes. The county began addressing its seaweed problem in 2019 and in July, county commissioners voted to petition the state for more flexibility in using beach raking equipment.