Aquatic weeds take over Cape Coast beaches
Aquatic weeds which have taken over large portions of the beaches in Cape Coast prevented revellers who normally climax their Easter festivities with beach activities from swimming in the sea.
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Cape Coast beaches are among the preferred in Ghana where most people visit during holidays.
When the Daily Graphic got to the beach just behind the Cape Coast Castle last Monday, the usual crowd of revellers who normally demonstrate their swimming skills had gathered under the few coconuts trees, while a few were taking pictures on the coastal reefs.
The entire shoreline was brownish with aquatic weeds from the sea.
The weeds had mixed up with the sand, giving it a very unattractive look.
Clement Adu Baffour, a photographer who has been operating at the beach for 11 years, said he had not seen the weeds in such quantity before, though he acknowledged that samples of the weeds occasionally came to the shore.
Fear
He said those who had come to the beach were afraid to swim, unsure of the harm the weeds would cause them.
He added that it had made activities at the beach “very poor”.
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“They cannot erect their umbrellas here as they always do,” he noted.
He believed the weeds came from beneath the sea.
Stephen Tuffour, who had come from Accra to visit the beach, said he was surprised at the scene.
“I was very surprised. I thought it was saw dust until I got closer” he said.
He noted that the brownish aquatic weeds had made the beach unattractive.
Other beaches
The story at the Coconut Beach in Cape coast was not different.
During the Daily Graphic’s visit to the Oasis Beach, also in Cape Coast, the people there were also not swimming.
Some were playing volleyball, while others were dancing.
Madam Anastatia Fynn Nyarkoh, a receptionist at the Oasis Beach, said they hired about 20 people to clear the place in the morning but could not clear the entire place due to the volume of weeds.
She added that the sea continued to bring out the weeds as they cleared them, saying the situation had reduced patronage at the beach.