NASSAU — Visitors to The Bahamas will find the beaches remain white and pristine, and free of Sargassum seaweed, according to The Department of Marine Resources of The Islands Of The Bahamas.

The department has declared that while there is Sargussum in the region, the beaches are not in danger of having the seaweed wash up on them.

Sargassum, a vine-like, floating algae, regularly circulates throughout the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic, where it forms the nearly 2 million-square-mile Sargasso Sea. The seaweed has been washing up on beaches in the Gulf, the southern U.S. Atlantic coast and the northern Caribbean in the spring and summer but in 2011, it began showing up in unprecedented amounts on shores. Unfortunately, there has been a major spike in Sargassum this summer, with unprecedented amounts washing up on shores around the region.

After inspection and analysis, the department has declared that the hundreds of beaches across the Islands remain unaffected and that Sargassum will not become an issue.

For more information, visit Bahamas.com/beaches.