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A special prosecutor has been assigned to look into whether Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones should face criminal charges over efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.

The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia announced Thursday that its executive director, Pete Skandalakis, will handle the matter after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was barred from prosecuting Jones as part of her election interference case against former President Donald Trump and others.

Jones was one of 16 state Republicans who signed a certificate stating that Trump had won Georgia and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors even though Democrat Joe Biden had been declared the winner in the state. As a state senator in the wake of the election, he also sought a special session of Georgia’s Legislature aimed at overturning Biden’s narrow win in the state.

As Willis was investigating possible illegal election meddling by Trump and others, Jones argued that Willis should not be able to pursue charges against him because she had hosted a fundraiser for his Democratic opponent in the lieutenant governor’s race. Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled in July 2022 that Willis’ actions created an “actual and untenable” conflict of interest.

McBurney’s ruling left it up to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, a nonpartisan state agency that supports district attorneys, to appoint a prosecutor to decide whether Jones should be charged. Right after Trump and the others were indicted, Skandalakis said he would begin looking for an appropriate prosecutor. But he instead decided to appoint himself.

The statement announcing Skandalakis’ appointment cites state bar rules and says that “no further comments will be made at this time.”

Jones has previously denied wrongdoing, saying he and other electors acted on advice of lawyers to preserve Trump’s chances if the former president won a court challenge that was pending at the time. Three others who signed the Republican elector certificate were among those indicted along with Trump in August by a Fulton County grand jury.

In a statement Thursday, Jones welcomed the news of Skandalakis’ appointment.

“I’m happy to see this process move forward and look forward to the opportunity to get this charade behind me,” Jones said. “Fani Willis has made a mockery of this legal process, as she tends to do. I look forward to a quick resolution and moving forward with the business of the state of Georgia.”

Trump and the 18 others indicted in August were accused of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn Trump’s loss in Georgia. Four people have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. The others, including the former president, have pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set.

A former Fulton County District Attorney’s office employee is giving information to House Republicans as they investigate whether any federal funds were misused by the office, said House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

During a interview on Fox News, Mr. Jordan said that his office has “talked with the whistleblower” and “she’s giving information to the press, to us.” He was responding to a report from the Washington Free Beacon this week regarding the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) confirmation that District Attorney Fani Willis may have misused federal funding.

“Now the Department of Justice is looking into this. All kinds of problems with Fani Willis and this ridiculous investigation she’s run on President Trump and others,” he said.

Ms. Willis’s office is currently prosecuting former President Donald Trump and more than a dozen others in connection to allegations that they illegally conspired to overturn the 2020 election. The 45th president has pleaded not guilty to the charges, accusing her office of trying to interfere in the upcoming 2024 election, in which President Trump is the Republican nominee.

In a statement to the Free Beacon, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said that “we have noticed some inconsistencies in what Fulton County has reported to [the Federal Subaward Reporting System] and we are working with them to update their reporting accordingly.” Other details were not provided, and multiple Epoch Times requests to the DOJ for comment have not been returned.

Ms. Willis has not yet publicly responded to those allegations in the Free Beacon’s report. The Epoch Times has contacted her office for comment.

Earlier this year, Mr. Jordan issued a subpoena weeks earlier to Ms. Willis to obtain documents related to possible misuse of federal funds related to her case against President Trump and more than a dozen other co-defendants. A letter issued to her office stated she is “required to produce the following items in your possession, custody, or control, from the period of September 1, 2020, to present in unredacted form.”

That letter made reference to a report that alleged a former employee in the Fulton County District Attorney’s office was demoted after she issued a warning to Ms. Willis about her alleged misuse of federal grant funding that was intended to be used for gang prevention efforts in Fulton County. Months later, according to the letter that cited the report, the employee was “abruptly terminated” and was “escorted out of her office by seven armed investigators.

“Instead of using these federal grant funds for the intended purpose of helping at-risk youths, your office sought to use the grant funds to ‘get Macbooks … swag … [and] use it for travel,’” the letter said. “Moreover, the whistleblower’s direct supervisor stated that these planned expenditures ‘were part of your vision.’”

Previously, Ms. Willis said her office would provide information as requested in the House subpoena and criticized Mr. Jordan’s investigation, saying they “would require this government office to divert resources from our primary purpose of prosecuting crime.” She added that the subpoena would not stop the Trump case.

It comes as President Trump and other defendants had tried to get Ms. Willis and her office tossed off the case, saying her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in March found that there was not a conflict of interest that should force Ms. Willis off the case but said that the prosecution was “encumbered by an appearance of impropriety.” The judge then ruled that Ms. Willis could continue her prosecution if Mr. Wade left the case, and the special prosecutor resigned hours later.

Lawyers for President Trump and other defendants then asked Judge McAfee to allow them to appeal his ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals, and he granted that request. They later filed an appeal in the case, while lawyers for the former president and the other co-defendants asked the appeals court to immediately review the matter in a filing submitted earlier this week.

In response, the district attorney’s office this week asked the appeals court not to consider President Trump’s motion “because the applicants have wholly failed to carry their burden of persuasion.”

“There is simply no trial court error to be found in the decision to deny disqualification,” Ms. Willis’s office wrote on Monday. “Days of evidence and testimony failed to disclose anything like a calculated pre-trial plan designed to prejudice the defendants or secure their convictions. The applicants have not identified any public statement injecting the District Attorney’s personal belief as to the defendants’ guilt or appealing to the public weighing of evidence.”

The Court of Appeals has 45 days to decide whether it will take up the matter. Judge McAfee has said he plans to continue to press on with the case in the meantime.

Country music star Morgan Wallen was arrested in Nashville, Tennessee after allegedly throwing a chair off a rooftop bar the night, Fox News Digital can confirm.

Court documents show Wallen, 30, has been charged with three counts of reckless endangerment and one count of disorderly conduct. The incident happened just days after Wallen began his One Night At A Time 2024 tour with a pair of shows in Indianapolis.

“At 10:53 p.m. Sunday evening Morgan Wallen was arrested in downtown Nashville for reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct. He is cooperating fully with authorities,” Wallen’s attorney Worrick Robinson told Fox News Digital.

The singer was booked for the arrest at 12:36 am, then was released at 3:29am. His bond was listed at $15,250.

Wallen’s mugshot for the arrest was shared by the Metro Nashville Police Department on X, formerly Twitter. In the photo, the singer can be seen giving a wide smile.

Along with the mugshot, they shared, “Country artist Morgan Wallen, 30, was booked early today on 3 cts of felony reckless endangerment and 1 ct of misdemeanor disorderly conduct for throwing a chair from the rooftop of Chief’s Bar Sun night. The chair landed on Broadway, close to 2 MNPD officers. His bond: $15,250.”

An arrest report said some Nashville police officers were standing in front of Chief’s Bar on Broadway on Sunday night when a chair fell from above, landing just feet away from them, according to WTVF. The Eric Church-backed bar just opened its doors for the first time on Friday, April 5.

Staff at the venue then told police that Wallen had tossed the chair from the sixth floor, WTVF reported, citing the police document. Before he was arrested, Wallen was seen with police on the street in a photograph obtained by TMZ.

The arrest report also stated that police viewed video showing Wallen “lunging and throwing an object over the roof,” according to WTVF.

Court documents show Wallen’s first court appearance has been set for the morning of May 3. Later that night, he has a scheduled concert at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt once loomed over Florida beaches, threatening to send ashore piles of sulfur-scented seaweed that would smother sea turtles, aggravate asthma and turn away tourists. Now, scientists say the seaweed belt has suffered a mortal blow after a month of unusually strong winds. A series of early tropical storms tore through the Atlantic in June, setting up a Godzilla-versus-Mothra style battle between two consequences of climate change: abnormally large seaweed blobs and abnormally early tropical storms. Researchers at the University of South Florida who monitor the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, the mass of floating brown seaweed that stretches 5,000 miles from the west coast of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico, were shocked to see just how much sargassum levels fell last month in the Gulf and the Caribbean Sea. Three-quarters of the sargassum in the Gulf of Mexico disappeared last month. Two-thirds of the sargassum in the western Caribbean and a quarter of the sargassum in the eastern Caribbean also vanished. “Very little” sargassum remained around the Florida Keys and the east coast of Florida by the end of the month, the researchers report. “One month ago we predicted this,” said Chuanmin Hu, who is part of the USF research lab that tracks sargassum. “We said, ‘In June, it’s likely going to drop.’ But we never expected it would drop this much.” Scientists don’t expect seaweed levels to recover this year, now that the plant’s spring growing season is over. And they don’t expect the remaining seaweed in the Atlantic Ocean to cause much trouble in Florida. “By the time it reaches Florida, if it does reach Florida, the amount will be minimal,” Hu said. “That means pretty much that the sargassum season for Florida is gone.”

WINDY WEATHER SCATTERS SARGASSUM Climate change has warmed the world’s oceans, creating more hospitable environments for the growth of both seaweed and cyclones. Last month, the two were on a collision course. “The winds were stronger than usual” in the Gulf and Caribbean in June, Hu said. “Those winds may dissipate sargassum or even make them sink. That’s our speculation.” Tropical Storm Arlene whipped through the Gulf of Mexico and Bret churned through the Caribbean Sea last month, which Hu said contributed to the strong winds that may be responsible for the sharp drop in sargassum coverage in the area. NO MORE SEAWEED THREAT THIS SUMMER Although sargassum levels plummeted in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, there’s still plenty of seaweed left floating in the Atlantic Ocean. Overall, the size of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt only shrank a few percentage points last month.

But Hu said the sargassum left in the Atlantic is unlikely to bother swimmers and sunbathers in Florida. It may drift into the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and eventually into the Strait of Florida later this summer — but this late in the year, Hu said, sargassum is no longer rapidly multiplying. “During the transport, instead of growing, it will die,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean Florida is sargassum-free,” Hu warned. “It simply means that the amount is not alarming. If you go to the beach in the next month or so, you may still see some sargassum here and there, but it’s a small amount. It doesn’t hurt anything.”

Key West sargassum is probably the last thing you had in mind when planning your trip to the Florida Keys. Unfortunately, it’s a natural occurrence year after year in South Florida. If you’re hearing about this problematic seaweed in Key West but don’t know anything about it, we’re here to help you understand why this sargassum is a problem and how to avoid it to have a marvelous beach vacation in Key West.

Key West seaweed made an early appearance in Monroe County this year, making it a challenging season for the popular summer destination in South Florida. However, the city is doing its part to make sure the sargassum problem hitting beach shores doesn’t ruin a summer full of family vacations or romantic getaways.

Enjoy Your Fun In The Sun Without Smelly Seaweed

Let’s kick this off on a high note! The first thing to remember is that your Key West getaway is not ruined just because of smelly seaweed washing ashore on public beaches. Key West Boat Trips offers the best opportunity for you to enjoy the sun and sand of the Florida Keys without getting trapped on a beach full of sargassum seaweed.

Choose from a variety of private tour options to customize the experience. Most of our boat tours accommodate up to six people, but we have an option catering to 12 people. Our expert captains know the ins and out of the shallow waters of Key West and know which beach shores are the cleanest. That means you’re guaranteed to enjoy your time in the water or on the sand without contending with sargassum seaweed.

Be sure to book your boat trip in advance so you are guaranteed a private excursion around the crystal clear waters of Key West.

What Is Sargassum Seaweed?

If you’ve ever been to the beach, you’re probably at least slightly familiar with seeing seaweed in the sand. It’s never very much, so why should this seaweed in Key West be any different? Before we get into why it’s problematic, let’s get to the bottom of what sargassum is.

Sargassum seaweed originates from brown algae found in the waters of the Sargasso Sea of the Western Atlantic Ocean. That brown algae collects together to form a seaweed that, when inspected closely, has a very intricate leaf pattern with small, pearl-like balls of air nestled within the brambly seaweed.

These air-filled sacs make the seaweed float, and as it works its way through the nutrient-rich waters flowing into the Atlantic Ocean from the Amazon and upwelling currents from West Africa, the sargassum forms into a huge mass headed right for the east coast of Florida. This floating mass is now what we call the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt.

What Is The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt?

Once all the sargassum floats together to form the huge mass known as the Sargassum Belt, it collects over time to create a 5,000-mile-long island-like mass of sprawling seaweed stretching from West Africa toward the Caribbean Sea. This large mass of brown seaweed is constantly moving on the surface of the water, so it never connects to the sea floor, which acts as a floating habitat.

Some of the creatures that find a safe haven within this massive web of seaweed include:

•           Crab

•           Shrimp

•           Tropical Fish

•           Marine Birds

Is Sargassum Seaweed Dangerous Or Just A Nuisance?

As sargassum washes ashore every year in Key West, locals and visitors alike are primarily annoyed by the smell of the sargassum quantity on the beach. This giant blob of seaweed breaks up along the shore to create a mess on public beaches in Monroe County, but there’s not too much danger involved.

Decaying sargassum starts to emit the gas hydrogen sulfide as it rots in the sun, and while it’s mostly bothersome for its potent stench of rotten eggs, people with respiratory issues, including asthma, should be mindful around the seaweed. Not only can this emission give you breathing problems, but it could potentially make you feel weak and ill if you aren’t careful.

Another annoyance sargassum seaweed brings is its hindrance to swimming! It’s very uncomfortable swimming in and around sargassum as its winding web of floating seaweed makes it hard to navigate through. If there’s a significant sargassum quantity in the water, it’s best to stay out until it can be cleaned up.

Does The Sargassum In Key West Play A Significant Role With Wildlife?

The stinky seaweed that floats in from the Gulf of Mexico each season turns from a flourishing habitat to a potential death trap for many sea turtles in the Caribbean Sea. As the sargassum washes ashore, it creates a tangled-up mess along the water that makes it hard for nesting mama turtles to make it to the sand to hide their eggs. She can also get tangled in it as she pursues her matronly mission, which can create its own set of problems.

If the mother turtle does successfully nest her eggs in the sand, once the babies are born, the clots of seaweed make it challenging, if not impossible, to reach the water, which can create a deadly problem for the population of beloved turtles in the Caribbean Sea.

Does Anyone Do Anything About The Seaweed Problem In Key West?

The short answer to that question is yes! The city of Miami and Monroe County employ beach cleaning contractors that travel around the east coast and the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to dispose of the putrid decaying sargassum.

Some beaches like South Beach and Higgs Beach work to make sure their beaches are cleaned twice a day for the comfort of visitors.

When Is Sargassum Seaweed The Worst In Key West?

While the seaweed shows up from the Gulf of Mexico around June each year, it always piles up the most between July and August. If you’re looking to schedule your trip to Key West when it’s least likely to be consumed with seaweed, you’ll want to make plans to arrive between October and May.

The cooler months of the year might not always be ideal for a beach lover, but you can almost guarantee you won’t have to worry about sargassum or the smell of rotten eggs at all during your stay.

What Can I Do To Avoid Sargassum On The Beach?

If your plans are already made, and it looks like you’ll be visiting during sargassum season, there is still lots of fun to be had here in Key West. Hit Duval Street for the best boutique shopping, endless eatery options from high-end menus to family-pleasing mom-and-pop shops, and lots of lively bars and nightclubs for a night on the town.

Head to Old Town Key West to hop on and off the Old Town Trolley Tours for the ultimate sightseeing convenience, and be sure to stop at all the top Key Lime pie bakeries in town to find your favorite. Even if you can’t hit the beach, there’s still tons to do in Key West!

Make The Most Of The Sun And Sand In The Florida Keys

You don’t have to give up on your sun and sand time while visiting the Florida Keys during sargassum season! Key West Boat Trips can help you curate a fun-filled day with the family or a romantic date day with your couple of friends with our vast selection of touring selections.

Our captains know the area like the back of their hands and can take you out to the sandbars, where you won’t have to contend with sargassum to enjoy a dip in the cool waters. We also have lunch tours available if you’d like to enjoy a picnic on a secluded beach or out on the boat.

Let us help you make the most of your trip to the Florida Keys. Don’t let a little bit of stinky seaweed ruin the fun! Head to our website to select your tour and book an excursion with us today!

As scientists continue to investigate the cause of hundreds of fish spinning and nearly 30 dead sawfish in the Lower Florida Keys in recent months, federal and state governments will soon start a program to capture and rehabilitate sawfish and then return them to the wild.

In an effort to save sawfish, a federally protected endangered species, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and private research groups like Mote Marine Laboratory, Ripley’s Aquariums and the Marathon-based Dynasty Marine Associates Inc. will embark on a plan to rescue and rehabilitate sick sawfish. This is first time that researchers have attempted to capture sawfish in order to save them.

While news reports created awareness of potentially record arrivals of sargassum, the scientific name for the brown seaweed that floats in ocean waters and can wind up on Florida shorelines, a May 31 scientific report indicates that levels have unexpectedly declined.

Continued tracking of sargassum movement by the University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Lab indicates an unexpected 15 percent decline in the quantity of sargassum in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (extending from west Africa to the Gulf of Mexico) during the month of May 2024, compared to April 2024.

For the Florida Keys and east coast of Florida, USF scientists wrote in their latest bulletin that sargassum quantity is likely to decrease in June.

Meanwhile, Florida Keys county and municipal officials say they are removing sargassum from public beaches as needed.

The seaweed itself is not harmful. In fact, recreational and charterboat fishermen seek sargassum in the Gulf Stream because it can provide shade for baitfish and gamefish such as mahi-mahi, known more commonly in the Keys as dolphin, a highly prized gamefish.

But when sargassum ends up on beaches it can harbor jellyfish, sea lice and other sea life. For most beachgoers it is not pleasant to walk through to gain access to the water. Some scientists believe sargassum and items that may wash ashore within it, including plastic, may harbor harmful bacteria.

When sargassum washes ashore in big quantities, it can create headaches as it decays under the sun and gives off a rotten egg smell caused by the release of hydrogen sulfide. It may create health issues for some humans who have chronic respiratory problems, according to Monroe County Health Department Administrator Carla Fry.

Sargassum moves with tides, currents and wind.

The problem in South Florida and the Keys is that prevailing winds are typically onshore during spring and summer. So, the only effective way to attack sargassum accumulations is to remove it with equipment and manpower.

“We keep engaged with our beaches in Marathon,” said George Garrett, the city manager for Marathon, whose oceanside public beaches include Sombrero Beach and Coco Plum Beach. “We normally rake four times a week.”

Kevin Wilson, the assistant Monroe County manager, said that the county monitors and responds with equipment to Higgs Beach in Key West seven days a week. If needed, staff will employ seaweed removal twice a day.

The City of Key West employs a beach cleaning contractor that cleans beaches every day, according to Public Information Officer Alyson Crean.

Keys oceanside hotels typically employ their own staff or contractors to deal with sargassum removal.

Many in South Florida are probably already looking ahead to spring break and thinking about making more frequent trips to the beach.

But like clockwork during the warmer months, many beachgoers encounter an accustomed nuisance on our shores: a massive, smelly blob of brown seaweed.

It’s called sargassum, and scientists say the blob is growing and already making its way to Florida.

What is sargassum?

Sargassum seaweed is a brown macroalgae that can be found floating on the ocean surface and consists primarily of two species, S. natans and S. fluitans. According to the Univesity of South Florida’s satellite-based Sargassum Watch System (SWS), it provides food, shade and shelter to fish, crabs and turtles. It may also serve as fertilizers for sand dunes, protects shoreline stability, and is a marine resource for biomass for food, fuel, and as a possible resource of pharmaceutical materials.

Sargassum is made of up a variety of leafy appendages, but round, berry-like structures called pneumatocysts that are filled with oxygen are what allow it to float to the surface, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Not only is the seaweed abundant in the Atlantic, but it’s also found in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and even along the coasts of the British Isles and mainland Europe.

Why can sargassum be problematic?

When these clusters of Sargassum make their way to the shoreline, it can create an unpleasant experience for beachgoers.

When sargassum decomposes on beaches, it not only smells bad, but it attracts insects and can cause many environmental problems such as fish kills and smothering turtle nesting sites, according to the SWS.

Where is the sargassum bloom now?

During January of this year, 5.5 million metric tons were detected in the central Atlantic — a slight increase from what was observed in December 2023, scientists wrote in a monthly bulletin for the SWS.

“Even though this increase is less robust than the change from November to December, the current Sargassum abundance remains quite high for the month of January – only surpassed by the quantities in January 2018 and January 2023,” scientists wrote.

The largest aggregations of the sargassum are in the interior central Atlantic basin and have been advancing westward for the past several months. Scientists said small portions are approaching the Lesser Antilles, larger ones are still a few hundred kilometers to the east, and short-lived clusters are offshore northeastern parts of South America.

When will Florida start seeing sargassum?

Good news for spring breakers: scientists said the southeast coast of Florida, including the Florida Keys, will be largely free of sargassum until at least late April or May.

This summer was on track to be a record year for the massive piles of sargassum seaweed washing ashore on Florida’s beaches. However, new data from the University of South Florida and NASA provide a surprisingly optimistic forecast for beaches with pungent seaweed.

Sargassum seaweed is a brown macroalga most known for its rotting smell that floats on the ocean surface. Since 2011, massive seaweed blooms have washed ashore, dominating beaches in Florida and Texas, causing problems for humans and sea life.

Not only does the seaweed stink up beaches, covering shores with its blooms, but sargassum can also carry bacteria and other threats to public health.

After a record-setting 13-million-ton seaweed blob in March, new data shows the amount of seaweed in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt – from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico – took a downward turn in May, according to the latest 2023 outlook by the University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Lab.

The USF lab uses NASA MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data to monitor the blooms. It provides a general outlook for current and future bloom activity in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. The outlooks are released at the end of each month.

According to the laboratory, the sargassum quantity in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from March to April dropped by half and then from April to May, it was halved again.

“It’s certainly a surprise. It’s never happened in the past years,” USF marine scientist Dr. Chuanmin Hu told FOX Weather.

Researchers say a decrease for this time of year has not been documented in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt since 2011, when large amounts of sargassum seaweed began appearing in the Caribbean Sea.

Hu said past years had experienced an increase in sargassum from April to May.

The overall decrease of sargassum in the Atlantic Ocean by 15% can largely be attributed to the sharp drop in seaweed in the eastern Atlantic, according to Hu.

The new data comes as Florida expected historical levels of sargassum seaweed this summer, offering possible good news for residents and visitors on Florida’s coasts.

“At the beginning of the year, we thought this could be a record year by June or July. But now it doesn’t look like that,” Hu said, adding, “It’s still a major sargassum year.”

Since 2011, 2023 still ranks in the top half of the worst sargassum seaweed seasons.

With the latest data, USF researchers say in June, sargassum will likely decrease in the Gulf of Mexico, meaning beachgoers may not have such a smelly experience. The USF lab forecasts the decrease to continue through August.

However, sargassum beaching events will likely continue throughout the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

“It’s good news, but we still need to be cautious,” Hu said. “That doesn’t mean the Florida beaches will be free of sargassum; they will still get some.

The decrease from April to May is another mystery surrounding the seaweed blooms.

Hu previously told FOX Weather there is still much unknown about sargassum, including where it started.

Still, Hu said there are some possible reasons for the drop in the stinky blooms. Wind, ocean circulation and nutrients from land or sea could all play a role in the size of seaweed blooms in the Atlantic.

Researchers are still investigating the cause behind the sharp decrease.

We’re getting closer to warmer days that include trips to the beach to lay under the warm sun, but it may not be only students on spring break or families on summer vacation in 2024 that will be in the water. A large blob of sargassum seaweed is lurking in the central Atlantic Ocean, and it’s growing in size.

According to the University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Lab, roughly 5.5 million metric tons of sargassum seaweed were detected in the central Atlantic Ocean in January, which is a slight increase from what was observed in December 2023.

“Even though this increase is less robust than the change from November to December, the current sargassum abundance remains quite high for the month of January – only surpassed by the quantities in January 2018 and January 2023,” researchers said in a news release.

When sargassum is floating in the open waters of the ocean, it doesn’t pose too much of a threat. In fact, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says the floating clumps of brown seaweed are a habitat that provides food and shelter and acts as a breeding ground for several types of animals, including fish, sea turtles, marine birds, crabs and shrimp.

Researchers said that the largest concentrations of sargassum seaweed are still mostly found in the central Atlantic basin, but it has been advancing to the west over the past several months.

And small batches have already started approaching the Lesser Antilles, while a larger batch is still a few hundred miles to the east.

In addition, researchers said clusters of short-lived sargassum patches were also spotted off northeastern portions of South America.

The researchers also said that there has been “essentially no sargassum” observed in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea over the past three months.

Researchers say that sargassum growth is expected to continue over the next few months as the main bloom in the ocean expands and drifts off to the west.

Some sargassum will likely begin to wash up on shore in the eastern Caribbean Sea beginning later in February or early March.

What’s different from last year, however, is that the southeastern coast of Florida and the Florida Keys will likely remain free of sargassum until at least April or May.

“We will continue to monitor and track sargassum throughout the central Atlantic, and will provide more summary updates at the end of each month.

Current and previous monthly updates, including images, can be found on the Sargassum Watch System

“After a couple of days onshore, Sargassum starts to decompose and release notorious and stinking gases such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, both of which are pollutants to air and water,” said Dr. Yuyuan Xie, of the University of South Florida. “Once those pollutants are accumulated in the aquatic environment and reach the concentrations above thresholds, they are poisonous to most fish.

The gasses can also cause respiratory problems for beachgoers, along with rashes and blisters if touched without gloves.

A record-breaking 13-million-ton mass of sargassum seaweed was detected floating across the Atlantic Ocean during the spring of 2023, and although historic levels were forecast to continue, data obtained during the summer months showed a decrease in sargassum seaweed levels.

The seaweed still piled up on beaches from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, making those summertime trips to the beach less ideal.

2023 ranked among some of the worst sargassum seaweed seasons, even with the decreasing levels from spring to summer.