Chief Sec­re­tary Far­ley Au­gus­tine says clean-up ef­forts are al­ready un­der­way af­ter thick sar­gas­sum sea­weed washed ashore on some of the is­land’s most pop­u­lar beach­es yes­ter­day.

Video footage from Store Bay showed beach­go­ers strug­gling to wade through the dense mat of sea­weed, which stretched across much of the bay’s sur­face.

This morn­ing, Au­gus­tine told the me­dia that clear­ing op­er­a­tions be­gan yes­ter­day and will con­tin­ue as long as the sar­gas­sum re­mains. He shared pho­tos from Store Bay, Swal­lows, and Pi­geon Point, not­ing that the is­land is cur­rent­ly ex­pe­ri­enc­ing neap tides