Corals, already in danger, face new threat in algae grown by people
Off the palm-fringed white beach of the remote Pacific atoll of Butaritari, the view underwater is downright scary. Corals are being covered and smothered to death by a bushy seaweed that is so tough even algae-grazing fish avoid it. Eucheuma settles in the reef’s crevices that fish once called home, driving them away. “This is one of the most damaging seaweeds I have ever seen,” says Jennifer E. Smith of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California. The seaweed was originally farmed because, while not edible, it produces carrageenan, an increasingly sought-after binder and fat substitute used in the food industry, notably in ice cream. Today, Totie, the Butaritari traditional chief, says the only way to prevent Eucheuma from destroying the entire lagoon is for the seaweed company to offer to buy it.