'Like swimming in porridge': Locals baffled by mounds of seaweed on Gold Coast beaches
Gold Coast locals are baffled by a mass of strange looking seaweed that has washed up on its normally pristine beaches.
Large amounts of algae, commonly known as ‘cornflake seaweed’ because of its cereal-like consistency, started appearing on southern Queensland beaches in December.
But so much has washed ashore recently that some people are struggling to escape the seaweed.
One surfer in Burleigh Heads posted photos on Instagram of them knee-deep in the weed, and compared it to “swimming in porridge”.
Unprecedented amounts wash ashore
The City of Gold Coast Council said the sudden build-up of the seaweed is a natural process that often occurs at this time of year.
Marine biologist Dr Pia Winberg agreed the phenomenon isn’t unusual, but the large amount of cornflake seaweed that had washed ashore is rare.
"We have not seen bigger blooms than the one you've got on the Gold Coast at the moment," she told the Brisbane Times.
Darrell Strauss from Griffith University’s Centre for Coastal Management Research told Kidspot the accumulation was because of a process known as “upwelling”.
“It happens when we get strong north and west winds for a long period of time like we’ve had over the last few days,” he said.
As lower tides than average are expected over the next few weeks, the seaweed will take longer than usual to decompose or wash back out to sea.
But Dr Winberg said it is an important part of the marine ecosystem, feeding local fish stocks.
Surfers Paradise Stingrays Swimming Club member Mark Anderson, told the ABC he had never seen anything like it.
"It's really like a minestrone soup, it goes out for another 50 to 60 metres,” he said.
Younger locals don’t seem to mind the thick, brown mounds however.
Children Zac Maher and Maximo Le-Sech were photographed playing in the seaweed at Palm Beach.
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While it might look harmless, Gold Coast Lifesaving Services Coordinator Nathan Fife cautioned people to be careful, warning that seaweed attracted sea snakes, jellyfish and bluebottles.
He advised people to “stay out of it or take a freshwater shower after you get out of it”.
“You don’t know what’s in it, what’s been washed up. It could be fishing hooks, anything sharp, I’d be very careful” he told Noosa News.
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