KRALENDIJK - Bonaire has been struggling for years with large quantities of washed-up sargassum. Especially at beaches such as Lagun, Foodies and Sorobon, the seaweed causes a nuisance: over time it begins to rot and spreads a pungent odour. A definitive solution still seems far off, but a local volunteer is now taking an important step forward.
Jalmar de Jong, active as a volunteer and also an entrepreneur at Sorobon, has developed an innovative rake that attaches to the bucket of a tractor and significantly speeds up the removal of sargassum. “The rake has a kind of wingspan of five metres. I’ve already adjusted it three times to make it more optimal,” he explains. The design is well thought out: “I use long beams, and the pieces in between are sail battens. These are flexible and therefore also ensure that the bottom is scraped clean — something that was very difficult to do before.”
According to De Jong, his invention saves a significant amount of time for the volunteers who work to keep the beaches clean. “This work saves a huge number of volunteer hours. They often only have an hour free on a Saturday during the week, but up until now we needed them every day for two hours a day.”
The approach has not gone unnoticed. Nature organisation STINAPA Bonaire has also expressed interest. “STINAPA was impressed and indicated that they might look next year at turning this prototype into a model made of, for example, aluminium — something stronger and better able to withstand salt,” says De Jong.
The sargassum problem remains complex, however. The seaweed cannot currently be reused, as it contains heavy metals that are harmful to the environment. For the time being, manual removal therefore remains the only option.
