Sargassum Stench Shuts Down Fish And Wildlife Office

ST. THOMAS, USVI — You can smell it before you see it. You instinctively close your windows and hold your breath. It's Sargassum season.

Sargassum seaweed washes up on East End beaches every summer, but this year is worse than most. The smell, caused by the decaying seaweed, is so obnoxious that the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) is temporarily closing the Division of Fish and Wildlife office in Red Hook.

DPNR Commissioner Jean-Pierre L. Oriol announced on Tuesday, "the excessive amount of decaying sargassum seaweed in the Red Hook area has caused the depletion of oxygen in the bay thus producing a rotten stench."

He's not just being sensitive.

Scientists have indicated that there is four times more sargassum this year compared to last year. As first reported by the St. Thomas Source, the amount of sargassum in the sea this year is on par with 2018 and 2019, both of which were particularly bad.

So the Fish and Wildlife Office will remain closed until further notice. Commissioner Oriol added that commercial fishers can still submit catch reports in the drop box at Red Hook or at the Gustave A. Quetel Fish Market in Frenchtown.

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