Seaweed Problems Averted in Ft. Lauderdale

One of the major applications for beach cleaners is to remove seaweed from the beach. While it does provide food for some coastal creatures, it also poses a danger to them as well because of man-made pollutants. Additionally, beach-goers often demand that the smelly, bug laden seaweed be removed for sensory reasons. 

The Sun Sentinel of South Florida recently published an article on how they use their SURF RAKE to solve these issues. Here are several excerpts:

Excerpts from South Florida’s “Sun Sentinel” Newspaper by Mike Clary: Jan 1, 2012:

Gary Solomon of the volunteer group Sand Sifters Beach cleanup…said his group is motivated by a love of the environment. “We try to get out there and focus on the seaweed, which can be food for foxes snakes and raccoons. But it can also be littered with tiny pieces of plastic…That’s the biggest problem we have.”

Beach cleanup begins at 5:30 am when Bennie Lynch fires up one of three tractors…that pull a Barber Surf Rake [which is] so sensitive it can pluck a cigarette butt from wet sand. 

The seasonal people want the beach to be perfect, just like the picture they have in their mind,” Moore said. “They don’t want a weed or piece of gum out there”… But the seaweed is constant. In November, said Almy, the beach patrol picked up 300 tons of seaweed, which is moved from the bucket of the Surf Rake into a dump truck and then hauled to a site where it is composted.