Ep.30: Sargassum is part of Galveston’s history with Dr. Tom Linton and Brandon Hill

The Sargassum Podcast

Dr. Tom Linton is an emeritus professor at Texas A&M. Tom has studied the impacts of Sargassum on Gulf Coast beaches for decades and was also involved in the development of the predictive model for forecasting Sargassum landings. Brandon Hill is a coastal resources manager for the City of Galveston and has previously worked as director of the shoreline department of the city of South Padre Island and as Sargassum Early Advisory System Project Manager at Texas A&M University.Together they have developed a hay bale-style collection method to bale Sargassum and use it as natural dune-building support.

- Intros (2:15)

- What is Sargassum to Brandon and Tom? (3:30)

- Captain Robert Webster’s work Part I (4:30)

- Historical accounts of Sargassum in Galveston Newspaper 1842 to 2018 (5:08)

- Project was ready to get rolling and there has not been any Sargassum since 2018! (5:50)

- Doing science under the veil of tourism (6:10)

- Finding out that Sargassum travelled through the Mona channel (8:00)

- Discovery of Sargassum’s cyclical history (13:00)

- Confederate soldiers hiding in Sargassum from the Union troops (14:10)

- Post-Depression Era ‘New Deal’ Sargassum out to sea (15:08)

- Sargassum has always been a part of Texas (16:40)

- What is the Sargassum Early Advisory System (18:25)

- All about MacGyver Science! No fancy equipment (20:15)

- How they were using the LandSAT Data (20:42)

- Sargassum grows well in nutrient-rich waters (22:36)

- There is a wide-spread benefit/need for this system (23:05)

- Captain Robert Webster’s work Part II (24:35)

- Bailing Sargassum for dune restoration (26:00)

- In Texas you were not allowed to remove Sargassum from the beach (32:16)

- The idea of baling Sargassum (34:35)

- Towns people were divided on Sargassum (37:10)

- Using fresh or dry Sargassum and why fresh is better (39:10)

- Physical and chemical properties of Sargassum (43:15)

- From hip deep Sargassum in 2018 to none at all after (45:50)

- Can bales be used for anything else than dune restoration ?(47:50)

- Concept of the Sargassum baling system (51:40)

- Working with local organizations such as the City of Galveston and the Park board (52:02)

- Sargassum as a carbon sink & what will the effects be (56:26)

- What can Sargassum as an ecosystem teach us(59:50)

- Interactive beach walks & the bucket brigade! (65:00)

- Sargassum is part of the beach (66:30)

Transcript

֍ Texas A&M-Galveston Researchers Tackling Stinky Seaweed Problem

֍ Innovative Technology Seaweed Prototype
Dunes Demonstration Project

֍ Coastal sand dunes and dune vegetation: Restoration, erosion, and storm protection

֍ Sargassum Early Advisory System

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