Galveston spending $140K to put smelly seaweed to work

Carson (left) and Cadan Hanson joined a pair of sea gulls at a Galveston beach littered only with seaweed on the 2012 Fourth of July holiday. Carson (left) and Cadan Hanson joined a pair of sea gulls at a Galveston beach littered only with seaweed on the 2012 Fourth of July holiday. Photo: Forrest M. Mims III, For The Express-News Photo: Forrest M. Mims III, For The Express-News Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Galveston spending $140K to put smelly seaweed to work 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

It's soggy, unsightly and doesn't smell too good, but Sargassum - better known as seaweed - could help Galveston survive major hurricanes.

To that end, the Galveston Park Board of Trustees has agreed to spend $140,000 on a project that will rely on Sargassum to create "seaweed-enhanced sand dunes" to shore up the island's beaches. The pilot program will focus on West End beaches.

"It's part of our ecosystem, so any kind of beneficial use we can find for that material would be highly advantageous, both from an environmental and management standpoint, to make sure our beaches are clean and enjoyable for all of our beachgoers," said Kelly de Schaun, Park Board executive director.

Officials plan to collect washed-up Sargassum from Galveston beaches, bale it and incorporate the compressed material into the sand dune to add protective volume and spur natural dune vegetation, according to Jens Figlus of Texas A&M University at Galveston, the project manager.

For now, the Sargassum-enhanced dunes should provide immediate protection against storm surges and wave impact, according to the proposal presented to the university for review. In the coming years and decades, the material will decay and spur dune vegetation that will help sustain and even grow the dunes.

The Park Board will fund about $60,000 of the project, and will seek $80,000 through the Coastal Erosion and Planning Response Act, de Schaun said.

A companion project will be a survey to identify the visitors to Galveston beaches and the amenities and services that they would like.

The University of Houston's Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management will conduct the $73,744 survey. The Park Board will contribute $30,000 toward it, with the remainder requested from the Texas General Land Office, which administers the coastal erosion funding program.