It came by sea - and kept coming

This was Stigliani’s first summer as Hull’s director of public works, making him responsible for keeping the town’s more than 20 miles of coastline clean. It’s a daunting task, and unusual weather patterns helped make this one of the messiest beach seasons in years.

“We think it was a combination of the wind and tides,’’ Stigliani said. “When the wind blows out of the northeast, you get that accumulation. The experienced people said they haven’t seen [that much] wind coming out of the northeast in conjunction with the high tides before. . . . This season was a challenge.’’

Cohasset and Scituate also reported overwhelming amounts of seaweed washing on shore, although most beaches farther south were spared, as was Hingham north to Quincy, local officials said.

“We’re more protected than other harbors,’’ said Hingham Harbormaster Kenneth Corson.

Similarly, Marion reported no problems, according to Town Administrator Paul Dawson. “We’re tucked up high in Buzzards Bay and southerly facing,’’ he said.

And Wareham Harbormaster Mike Parola said his problem was not enough seaweed; he was happy to see some growing this summer.

“We need seaweed for the shellfish; it’s very important for the scallop fishery. It also tells you the water quality is pretty good,’’ he said.

The beaches facing the open ocean side fared the worst. Cohasset’s Sandy Beach, which is owned and run by a private association, hired people to take seaweed away throughout the summer, said Tara Tradd, the town’s health inspector, who made note of the unusual conditions in her water quality reports to the state Department of Public Health.

“We can’t say for sure if [the seaweed] affected water quality,’’ she said. “It’s not an exact science, unfortunately.’’

Meteorologist Rob Gilman, who’s on Hull’s beach management committee, said the same weather conditions that caused the unusually cool, damp weather of the early summer contributed to the seaweed problem.

An intense, three-day northeastern storm in June, more typical for the winter, dislodged the rockweed, and high tides left it far up the beach, he said. The weather stayed cool and damp, so the seaweed never dried out and blew away as it typically does, he added.

Add a few more northeastern storms plus Hurricane Bill, and the problem persisted, he said. “It was a phenomenal season, and people should not expect anything like it again.’’

Stigliani estimates his Hull crews handled more than 8,000 cubic yards of seaweed and quickly ran out of space at the town landfill. They took some seaweed to a composter in Cohasset, which also ran out of room, he said.

Workers pushed about half the seaweed back into the ocean, hoping the tide and currents would take it away. Leaving it on the beach to rot wasn’t a good option because neighbors complain, he said.

On state-owned Nantasket Beach, three times as much seaweed as normal - 300 tons versus the usual 100 tons - washed up this season, according to Department of Conservation and Recreation spokeswoman Wendy Fox. The state spent about $2,000 for an extra dumpster and removal, she said.

“We have four or five people put there [raking seaweed] every day,’’ said Matt Tobin, who supervises work at Nantasket. “We’re doing it for the public, not the beach. The general public doesn’t want to have to sit in seaweed and, if you let it sit, it eventually stinks and attracts lots of flies, so it’s not nice.’’

He said the raking would continue until beach weather ends, probably in mid-October.

Farther down the coast in Scituate, public works director Albert Bangert estimates that two to three times more seaweed washed ashore this summer than normal. His crews pushed some back into the ocean, brought some to a local mulch maker, and left a lot to decompose on the beach.

“We try to leave it there and hope the tide takes it out,’’ he said. “It’s very expensive [to remove] and involves machinery on the beach, which harms the beach, takes away sand, and makes a minor improvement. The best thing is for nature to take its course.

“We cleaned some selected areas where a lot of people were swimming - Sand Hills area and Peggotty Beach. It’s cost us about $15,000 this year. Some years we spend nothing.’’

Bangert was philosophical about the seaweed glut, though, noting that Irish immigrants came to Scituate in the mid-1800s to make a living harvesting seaweed. The “moss’’ industry flourished for about 100 years, with seaweed hauled from the ocean, dried, and shipped out for use in such things as fertilizer, beer, cough syrup, toothpaste, and pudding.

“Now we see it as an inconvenience,’’ he said. Attitudes have “changed; nature hasn’t.’’

Duxbury Harbormaster Don Beers said he hasn’t had complaints about seaweed this summer.

“People just recognize it as part of the ecosystem,’’ he said, adding that the direction of the winds this summer also may have kept excess seaweed off Duxbury’s beaches.

“It’s the luck of the draw,’’ Beers said. “I remember a couple of years ago we had seaweed issues. The stuff rolled up, and, boy, it was bad. When it starts to rot, it smells pretty bad.’’

Johanna Seltz can be reached at seelenfam@verizon.net.