The situation has gotten to so out-of-control in Quintana Roo that it was recently declared a state of emergency. The government of that state is addressing the situation as an "imminent natural disaster", which is threatening their tourism economy.

Here in Belize, the public-private committee known as the Sargassum Task Force has been working to come up with strategies to reduce the negative impacts of sargassum on San Pedro, Caye Caulker, Hopkins, and Placencia, which all depend heavily on the tourism industry.

Late last year, Cabinet approved a set of relief support measures, including a 4-month hotel tax relief for all beach front hoteliers. Cabinet also approved duty exemptions for machinery and equipment imported to support Sargassum clean-up and containment efforts. The government also approved $1.5 million dollars in support to these municipalities for beach clean-up.

The Government reports that over 299 property owners countrywide have benefited from the hotel tax relief, and an additional 10 property owners took advantage of the duty exemption for the sargassum management equipment importation. 4 hotspot areas have been integrated within a municipal relief mechanism administered by the BTB. A municipal beach clean-up budget of $500,000 in total was approved for these hotspots.

The Sargassum Task Force is also planning to stage a Boom Installation Pilot Test in San Pedro, to find out if it would be effective in protecting that island's beaches.

Finally, the Task Force has been working with the National Met Office, NEMO, and the Department of Civil Aviation to develop a sargassum drift projection system. This could evolve into a full forecasting system later this year. These reports are issued every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday along with local weather forecasts. The team will continue to improve on the accuracy of sargassum detection and drift forecasting.

The Government says that Belize may become one of the first countries in the region with a local forecasting system for sargassum. ENDS…Regular Gas Goes Down

Last week, the price of premium gasoline and diesel went down by 24 and 21 cents respectively, and at midnight tonight, the price of regular gasoline will also go down.