{"id":616,"date":"2026-05-18T15:31:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:31:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:31:19","slug":"sargassum-is-starting-to-pile-up-in-south-florida-heres-what-to-know-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616","title":{"rendered":"Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Miami-Dade is bracing for another potentially record-breaking sargassum season, with the smelly brown seaweed already piling up on local beaches. The cleanup costs taxpayers nearly $4 million a year, and economists say lost tourism could push total losses into the billions.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=615\">Gas prices are down 10 to 20 cents a gallon in South Florida. Check prices<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p><b>FULL STORY: Miami-Dade\u2019s sargassum problem isn\u2019t going away \u2014 and neither are the costs<\/b><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Here are key takeaways:<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Satellites spotted more sargassum blooms this January than in any on record, according to Chuanmin Hu of the University of South Florida. Researchers point to wind, fertilizer runoff and warmer water temperatures being fueled by climate change as likely drivers.<\/li>\n<li><b>Economic impact:<\/b> Woods Hole researcher Di Jin estimates Florida loses about $2.7 billion in tourism and fishing to sargassum, with trickle-down effects pushing the total closer to $5 billion \u2014 and worst-case estimates near $10 billion.<\/li>\n<li>Tourists are already changing plans. In a Facebook group with more than 17,000 members, travelers debate canceling trips, and some say they\u2019re swapping Miami Beach vacations for Las Vegas or New York.<\/li>\n<li><b>Cleanup challenges:<\/b> Stopping sargassum offshore isn\u2019t practical because the Gulf Stream is too strong, and federal rules limit ocean removal since the seaweed shelters small fish. For now, tractors rake it from the sand and haul it to landfills, where it produces methane as it decays.<\/li>\n<li>Miami-Dade is testing <b>long-term fixes<\/b> for processing the sargassum pile up. Four startups \u2014 Algas Organics, X Net, Carbon Wave and Chemergy \u2014 are piloting ways to turn sargassum into useful products like fertilizer or building materials.<\/li>\n<li>The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has rolled out a <b>color-coded forecasting tool<\/b> that tracks where sargassum blooms are along Florida and Gulf Coast shorelines, using red for high risk, orange for medium, yellow for warning and blue for low risk.<\/li>\n<li>The forecasting model is not yet precise enough to predict exactly which beaches will be hit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p><i>This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=614\">Is it a good time to buy a home in South Florida? Check the new sales trends<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><\/p>\n<p>This story was originally published <span>May 18, 2026 at 4:30 AM<!-- --><\/span><span> with the headline  &#8220;Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=612\">Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Miami-Dade beaches from Miami Beach to Key Biscayne are seeing record sargassum blooms, straining cleanup budgets and threatening tourism revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know - Florida Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know - Florida Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Miami-Dade beaches from Miami Beach to Key Biscayne are seeing record sargassum blooms, straining cleanup budgets and threatening tourism revenue.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Florida Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-18T15:31:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f\"},\"headline\":\"Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T15:31:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616\"},\"wordCount\":424,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/c3152c276953db180c093a670dbf93cc.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Environment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616\",\"name\":\"Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know - Florida Moving Chronicle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/c3152c276953db180c093a670dbf93cc.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T15:31:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/c3152c276953db180c093a670dbf93cc.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/c3152c276953db180c093a670dbf93cc.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":674},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=616#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Florida Moving Chronicle\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know - Florida Moving Chronicle","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know - Florida Moving Chronicle","og_description":"Miami-Dade beaches from Miami Beach to Key Biscayne are seeing record sargassum blooms, straining cleanup budgets and threatening tourism revenue.","og_url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616","og_site_name":"Florida Moving Chronicle","article_published_time":"2026-05-18T15:31:19+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f"},"headline":"Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know","datePublished":"2026-05-18T15:31:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616"},"wordCount":424,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c3152c276953db180c093a670dbf93cc.jpg","articleSection":["Environment"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616","url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616","name":"Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know - Florida Moving Chronicle","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c3152c276953db180c093a670dbf93cc.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-18T15:31:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c3152c276953db180c093a670dbf93cc.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c3152c276953db180c093a670dbf93cc.jpg","width":1200,"height":674},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=616#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sargassum is starting to pile up in South Florida. Here\u2019s what to know"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/","name":"Florida Moving Chronicle","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com"],"url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}