Nasty, smelly seaweed washing ashore South Florida beaches

NORTH MIAMI, Fla. ā€“ Overcrowding may not be the only reason visitors won't be flocking to South Florida beaches this summer.

A nasty-smelling invasion of sorts has fouled up some of our beautiful coastline over the last few weeks, and it remains a mystery to those who are supposed to be able to explainĀ these kinds of things.

Several beaches in Miami-Dade and Broward have become inundated with sargassum seaweed, which has formed into giant, unpleasant-lookingĀ mounds.

According to the Weather Channel, the seaweed has overtaken over 1,000 miles of Florida beaches. While the seaweed has becomeĀ an annual nuisance, it was rarely seen before 2011.

Scientists believe climate change is affecting where the blooms wash up, but it's only a theory and no one can accurately determine why it has become such a growing problem

The report states the seaweed is not just ugly, it's harming ocean life as it blocks out the sun's light, making it unable to reach organisms that need the rays.

"Itā€™s catastrophic," James Franks, a marine biologist at the University of Southern Mississippi, told Science Magazine. "Right now thereā€™s [another] huge mass impacting Puerto Rico, and thatā€™s the last thing they need."