Sicilian fishermen are struggling to operate their businesses because of an invasive seaweed clogging up the Mediterranean.  

What's happening?

Rugulopteryx okamurae, an invasive species originally from Asia, has been covering large swaths of the Mediterranean Sea, according to Deutsche Welle. After it was previously found in Spain, Italian fishermen in Sicily have recently come across the weed. It covers the water and gets caught in their nets, making it difficult to catch actual fish. 

"We've had the algae here for 10 years," Gregorio Linde, a fisherman in Tarifa, told DW. "The seabed is a carpet of it, and the nets don't catch anything."

The seaweed likely came from ballast water expelled from cargo ships traveling between Asia and Europe. DW reported that this seaweed costs Spanish fishermen €3 million annually. This especially impacts smaller, family-owned fisheries.

Why is invasive seaweed important?

Invasive species take resources away from native plants and wildlife, throwing off the balance of a local ecosystem. In this case, the invasive seaweed grows rapidly and smothers seagrass meadows below the surface. Without the native seagrass meadows, sea urchins lose access to their food supply, and fish shelters are overtaken. This drastically impacts the fish population that the Spanish and Italian fishermen depend on for their livelihoods. 

Plus, the seaweed is so prolific that it constantly washes ashore, and it costs municipalities money to remove it. About 1,200 tons of it was cleared from Spanish beaches during the spring and summer. Despite the efforts to clear the invasive plant, it keeps showing up on the sand and creates a foul smell for beachgoers. This has hurt the local tourism industry, according to DW. 

What's being done about invasive seaweed?

There have been efforts to curb the amount of untreated ballast water dumped into the Mediterranean. Ships in the International Maritime Organization are required to install onboard treatment systems that prevent anything more than 10 microns from being discharged.

Local scientists have also been monitoring the spread of the invasive plant, which helps track the scale of the problem. Their work is a great example of the local action people can take to address the climate issues most pressing to their communities. 

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