Also known as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, the Sargasso Sea is an extensive area of around 1,100 kilometers (600 nautical miles) wide and 3,200 km (1,750 nmi) long in the Atlantic Ocean.

It’s considered the largest seaweed mass on the planet and shares borders with no countries. 

Despite its calm blue waters, there have been reports of ships getting trapped in this vegetal blob when winds are strong.

In “normal” environmental conditions, the Sargasso Sea is an important marine ecosystem, key in the migration of multiple European and American species like the European eel, the American eel, and the American conger eel.

Other species, such as certain types of fish, sea turtles and crustaceans, use this “golden island” to reproduce or protect themselves from natural predators.

In an attempt to promote the creation of a “global network of marine sanctuaries under the Global Ocean Treaty,” Greenpeace found a “shocking” amount of plastic garbage in some sargassum beds when navigating the area.

In one of the floating mats, they “retrieved more than 300 pieces of plastic in just 30 minutes including bottle caps, disposable lighters, buoys, shoes, children’s toys and dozens of smaller scraps in the process of breaking down into microplastics,” reads a Greenpeace statement. 

“We saw large pieces of plastic debris tangled inside it. On closer inspection, every clump of seaweed contained a panoply of plastic pollution, from bottle caps to disposable cutlery,” stated Briony Venn, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace UK.

The main objective of this environmental organization is to press the UK government to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty and to join forces with other international governments to elect the Sargasso Sea as the first sea sanctuary in international waters.

This effort should go together with reducing single-use plastic under the Global Plastic Treaty, as per the organization.

According to scientists, plastic is now present in all oceans on the planet. This material has been found in the bodies of “44% of all seabird species, 22% of cetacean species, and in all sea turtle species,” Greenpeace says.

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For those who haven’t visited this natural wonder yet, this beach is located right next to Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport.

In full disclosure, this is not the first time locals and visitors have seen their travel plans ruined due to such a phenomenon. 

However, Balinese people took to social media to report this is the biggest amount of marine trash they have seen in history.

But what is causing this now recurring trash avalanche? Local environment agency, Anak Agung Dalem has an answer. People have been carelessly littering Indonesian lands and throwing all types of garbage, such as plastic bottles and others, onto mountains and rivers. 

Then, when the monsoon rains and winds start between November and March, the swollen rivers sweep along debris, tons of plastic and even branches to the ocean. After that, it’s just a matter of time before it washes ashore onto the once-pristine beaches of Badung Regency. 

As per the latest news, local authorities have been busy trying to clean up the mess. Since March 18, more than 300 local employees and six excavators have been working nonstop to collect the garbage.

It is of great importance to speed up this process because trashy beaches are impacting both tourism and fishing businesses. Seeing their livelihoods at risk, fishermen have had to move to faraway areas, increasing production costs.

Bali’s Efforts To Reduce Plastic Pollution

Beaches covered with garbage are a problem that tends to increase over time.

To tackle this issue, Balinese authorities have developed 2 strategies. 

Firstly, Bali banned the production, use and distribution of single-use plastic in 2018. However, due to the pandemic, it didn’t really take off until 2022. 

Secondly, and probably the most important, is local education. For years, the government has struggled with residents carelessly polluting the lands, rivers and oceans of Bali.

To overcome this issue, officials have implemented environmental programs targeting communities and educational centers to teach locals about the negative impacts their negligent actions are having.

Committed to stopping Bali’s degradation, two local sisters started the “Bye Bye Plastic Bags (BBPB)” foundation in 2013. As of today, the initiative has motivated the creation of more than 50 BBPT international teams. This is now considered one of the most successful efforts against plastic waste.

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