Reflection

Sargassum seaweed is a growing problem in the oceans around the world. At first, you wouldn’t seem to think sargassum seaweed is an invasive species, but it carries a heavy odor, and has been reproducing at an alarming rate. We thought this would be an interesting topic because of how unknown this species of seaweed is wreaking havoc on coastal cities’ tourism business. Throughout the researching period, our knowledge of ocean pollution, and depth of the problem have been expanding. The meaning of ocean pollution is much deeper that trash and toxic wastes, but amplifies to invasive species that invade and disrupts the entire ecosystem. While creating this video, we wanted to bring attention to the underlying issue of invasive species. To research these topics, we used a some of our school’s databases and various news articles. Since this problem changes year to year, it was vital that we used sources with accurate and recent information. However, not many news networks seemed to care about the issues related to sargassum seaweed growth, other than its effect on tourism. As many coastal regions rely on tourists for income, this made sense. But, not many people cared about the imminent destruction of an ecosystem caused by the algae. With animals dying and parts of the ocean made uninhabitable, tourism is not the only thing affected.