A Sudden Battle with Odor and Bugs... Tens of Tons of Seaweed Piles Wash Ashore on Jeju Island Beaches

"It Seems Seaweed Was Detached from Rocks by Strong Waves"

An unexpected 'war against seaweed' is taking place at Iho Beach in Jeju.

According to Yonhap News on the 17th, recently, tens of tons of seaweed piled up and covered the white sand beach at Iho Beach in Jeju City. It appears that the seaweed mats floating in the shallow sea were carried by the waves onto the beach.

About 20 marine environment keepers and public workers affiliated with Jeju City began collecting seaweed from 8 a.m. that day, carrying hundreds of garbage bags. Due to about 20 tons of seaweed washed ashore the previous day, a 1-ton truck loaded with bags containing dead seaweed made more than 30 trips to the waste collection site.

On the morning of the 17th, sea environment guardians and others are collecting piles of seaweed that have been washed ashore for the second day at Iho Beach in Jeju City. Photo by Yonhap News

The problem is that as the seaweed decomposes, it started to emit a foul odor and attract pests. Tourists and citizens visiting the beach avoided the collection site.

Such a large amount of seaweed being washed ashore is a very unusual phenomenon. Some experts believe that the strong storms continuing since last weekend caused the seaweed attached to the rocks to detach.

Gang Hyeong-cheol, a researcher at the Jeju Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, said, "The seaweed washed ashore recently started growing around December last year," adding, "Considering the overall good condition including the base of the seaweed, it seems that strong waves reaching 4.5 meters over several days physically detached the seaweed."

He added, "Seaweed in shallow waters or recently washed ashore is in good enough condition to be edible," but also advised, "Please carefully judge the condition before consuming the seaweed washed ashore."

The Jeju Marine and Fisheries Research Institute expects additional seaweed to flow into Iho Beach for the time being and is conducting on-site investigations to determine the exact amount of seaweed inflow and the detailed causes.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.