The Island's beaches have been swamped with seaweed from the Sargasso Sea.

The piles of Sargassum are so thick they have prevented persons from accessing the South Shore, particularly at Church Bay.

Crews from the Parks Department are battling to clear the seaweed as quickly as possible, but a Government spokesman said in the case of Church Bay, this could take up to a fortnight.

"One of the Department of Parks' western crews was redeployed to Church Bay this morning to see if they could make headway on removing the seaweed," the spokesman said yesterday.

"The report back was that the seaweed is three feet thick, covers the entire beach, and the crew of five people could spend the entire week possibly two weeks, removing what is there.

"The department is doing the best they can but can't keep up with the volume of seaweed.

"There is currently a huge amount of Sargasso seaweed in the waters around Bermuda and it is being washed ashore onto the beaches along the South Shore."

The spokesman said the Parks Department only had one beach tractor in operation for a while however a second has been repaired and is now back in service.

"There are some beaches where the tractors cannot access, such as Elbow Beach, Warwick Long Bay and Church Bay, where the only way to remove the seaweed would be by hand, and this makes it very labour-intensive," he said.

"The crews have worked very hard moving seaweed from John Smith's Bay and Horseshoe Bay as they are popular locations. However, with the volume that is still in the water, by the afternoon and the following day the beach looks like it was not cleaned at all.

"There are some locations such as the beaches at Cooper's Island Nature Reserve where the beach is completely covered with seaweed and it is backed up solid 30 yards into the water.

"If we remove what is on the beach the same as above will apply.

"In addition, not all the seaweed will be removed from the beaches where the tractors can access, as it will be used for dune and beach restoration and stabilisation.

"The department are doing the best they can to try and rid the beaches of seaweed, whether putting it in the dunes or removing it entirely from the beach for use as fertiliser.

"The patience and understanding of the general public will be greatly appreciated."

He said people could also help out with the clean-up.

"The seaweed makes good fertiliser, so if people want to collect some for their gardens they are welcome to go to places such as Warwick Long Bay and Church Bay and collect as much as they can."

Meanwhile, fishermen have reported patches offshore "as big as football fields", in what they say is an unusual occurrence.

However Dr. Tony Knap, President and director of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, said he had seen the phenomenon in summer months before.

Dr. Knap, a senior scientist, said: "I remember running marine pollution courses in the summer about 25 years ago and the seaweed was pretty high then.

"However, in the past 15 to five years, there was very little Sargasso weed all over the place and there were concerns the whole Sargasso Sea was in trouble.

"There were one or two studies done but they weren't very scientific. But it looked like the mass of Sargassum had moved further south and west and off course. Now, it is back again.

"It is unusual to see it at the height of summer. Usually it is here between January and March, but I do remember having seen it during some summers.

"It is interesting because it has to do with currents and the productivity of the Sargasso Sea. But we would need to have long-term data to analyse it."

He said the huge size of the Sargasso Sea made it difficult to conduct scientific research because digital analysis and aeroplanes were needed, and this was therefore "very expensive".

Dr. Knap added: "There are about 70 species of organisms that live in this seaweed, from little algae to shrimps and fish. It's a whole floating community.

"Right now we should be happy there's plenty of Sargassum in the ocean."

E. Michael Jones, Tourism Board chairman, said: "Seaweed on the beach is always a challenge and it is an ongoing mountain of grass the Parks Department have to deal with.

"I had a member of the Tourism Board contact me yesterday to indicate there were concerns about the seaweed. I know it is disappointing for tourists but I know the Parks Department are doing the best they can."