(5-11-08)
Seaweed is all over our beaches. It began washing up on shore about a month ago. An eyesore to many people who want to see a clean beach. But to others it's a valuable part of the beach eco-system and should be left alone. John Adams is with the Beach Access Coalition,"
Members of the Beach Access Coalition began setting up at the Holiday Inn on Padre Island for a 3 day symposium on sargassum. On monday morning, environmental groups and government agencies will come together to take a look at our beach maintenance plans along the Texas coast. On most of our beachfronts the seaweed is simply scraped off by heavy machinery. Pat Suter is a local environmentalist and thinks the seaweed should be left alone, "Texas scrapes their beaches Galveston does, Corpus Christi does the county does and we have eroding beaches here you can't scrape them with bulldozers."
This symposium won't be all talk, there's also going to be a demonstration on the beach of the latest seaweed removal machines. John Adams says he's ready to see what one local company has to offer,"There's a fellow here with Captain Hooks Services here in Corpus Christi he is supposed to be unveiling the ultimate seaweed machine at this symposium so he claims it is going to be the cat's meow." Tickets for the 3 day event are 30 bucks and you can buy them at the door when the event begins at 8:30 on Monday morning.

Michael Gibson 3 News