Mother Nature assists in red seaweed cleanup at Nantasket Beach

By Sarah N. Mattero, Globe Correspondent

Mother Nature has given a boost to efforts to clean up an abundance of red seaweed that washed up on Nantasket Beach in Hull this week, state officials said.

“It rolls in at the end of the summer or late fall. It depends on storms, too,” said Department of Conservation and Recreation spokeswoman S.J. Port. “It’s not a risk to anyone.”

Nantasket Beach is managed by the department and it is responsible for the cleanup efforts.

“People get a little concerned because it’s red seaweed and not green, but it’s a completely natural occurrence,” she said, adding there was less seaweed this year than last. “It happens every year.”

The department had already begun piling up the seaweed Tuesday so it could be hauled away as compost. Luckily for the state, the ocean swept away most of the seaweed this morning during high tide.

“If it comes back, we’ll go back out,” Port said. “We are perpetually at the whim of Mother Nature. You never know what she’ll bring you.”