From Belize to Barbados, tourist beaches have been swamped by huge tides of foul-smelling sargassum – and climate change could make the problem worse

The thick accumulation of these sea plants on the coastline is apparently causing detrimental effects on certain fish species as residents have reported dead fish along the shores.

Sargassum, a type of seaweed, is creating problems as it washes up across the Caribbean.

Sargassum, a type of marine algae, is washing up en masse on Caribbean beaches, closing them down to the public. The same sargassum is here in Miami, lining Miami beaches.

Some tourists have canceled summer trips and lawmakers on Tobago have termed the sargassum invasion a “natural disaster.”

Scientists scramble to explain unusual bloom of Sargassum