
The overall purpose of this white paper is to compile background
information for a strategic status update and critical situational
analysis that informs and elicits feedback from key regional
stakeholders. It will also form the basis for development of a draft
Concept Note for a UNEP Cartagena Convention-led project targeting key
issues identified. The paper is not an exhaustive review of all
available knowledge on the issue. It focuses on influxes in the
Caribbean, with reference to other impacted regions as appropriate. This
paper is a living document intended to be regularly updated so that it
remains current and relevant. This most recent update is the first
revision following the original version presented during the Eighth
Meeting of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC-8) to
the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) in
the Wider Caribbean Region held in Panama City, 5–7 December 2018.
CREDITS
AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Coordination: Cartagena Convention Secretariat, United Nations
Environment CEP (Ileana C. Lopez)
Lead authors: This Sargassum White Paper was prepared by Shelly-Ann Cox
and A. Karima Degia for the United
Nations Environment Programme - Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP-
CEP).
Contributing authors: Ileana C. Lopez (UNEP-CEP)
Other contributors: UNEP-CEP acknowledges the support and feedback from
colleagues at UNEP, Nairobi and the Regional Activity Centre for the
Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife for the Wider
Caribbean Region (SPAW-RAC).
Financial Support: The Secretariat gratefully acknowledges the Swedish
Ministry of Environment for their support to the Regional Seas 2020
implementation in particular SPAW STAC-8 para 3 recommendation endorsed
by COP-10 Roatan, Honduras.
Citation: United
Nations Environment Programme- Caribbean Environment Programme
(2021). Sargassum White Paper – Turning the crisis into an
opportunity. Ninth Meeting of the Scientific and Technical Advisory
Committee (STAC) to the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas
and Wildlife (SPAW) in the Wider Caribbean Region. Kingston, Jamaica.
The Ministry of the Environment is part of The Government Offices of
Sweden. It is responsible for matters related to reduced climate
emissions, a non-toxic everyday environment and strengthening
biodiversity on land and in water. Sweden supports UNEP and wants to
strengthen the UN’s role in the environmental area and
intergovernmental environmental cooperation.
The Ministry of the Environment is part of The Government Offices of
Sweden. It is responsible for matters related to reduced climate
emissions, a non-toxic everyday environment and strengthening
biodiversity on land and in water. Sweden supports UNEP and wants to
strengthen the UN’s role in the environmental area and
intergovernmental environmental cooperation.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Since 2011, Caribbean coastlines have been subject to unprecedented,
massive, episodic influxes of floating sargassum seaweed.
While 2020 was relatively mild in terms of sargassum volumes, and a
global pandemic became the overarching worry, 2018 was record breaking
in terms of sargassum volumes reaching Caribbean shores and 2019 was
also significant.
Floating sargassum should not be construed as negative in and of itself
– it is Beneficial at sea, mainly as a unique pelagic habitat.
However, the mass stranding of sargassum on coastlines has significant
negative impacts (biophysical and socio-economic), particularly on
coastal communities and livelihoods, public health, tourism and
fisheries. This issue therefore represents an emerging hazard for a
region that is already subject to numerous hazards. Indeed, various
countries in the Caribbean have declared national states of emergency
with respect to sargassum influxes (Desrochers
et al. 2020).
Initially, there was significant uncertainty as to the causes and
expectations of recurrence of this new issue, and therefore also on the
best response for impacted territories. Subsequently, in the ten (10)
years since the first inundation episodes, it is generally accepted that
the influxes are part of a ‘new normal,’ and significant progress
has been made in understanding this phenomenon and developing response
strategies. Nonetheless, this is a still relatively new issue, and
significant gaps remain in information and understanding, as well as
effectiveness of response strategies. Significant seasonal and
international variations in the influx timing and magnitude hinder
accurate predictions, and periods of time when the issue is ‘out of
sight, out of mind’ amidst myriad other issues (now including a global
pandemic) can derail momentum.
Furthermore, the challenges are compounded by the general complexity of
Caribbean regional ocean governance. While there is general consensus
that part of the response should consider influxes an economic
opportunity as much as a threat, there remain many issues to be resolved
before that is realised.
The issue is however not confined to the Caribbean, but it extends
across the Tropical Atlantic, including equatorial Brazil as well as
coastal West Africa from Sierra Leone through the Gulf of Guinea.
Sargassum influxes are very much a multi-regional transboundary issue,
demanding coordination and collaboration within and across impacted
regions.
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF PAPER
The overall purpose of this white paper is to compile background
information for a strategic status update and critical situational
analysis that informs and elicits feedback from key regional
stakeholders. It will also form the basis for development of a draft
Concept Note for a UNEP Cartagena Convention-led project targeting key
issues identified. The paper is not an exhaustive review of all
available knowledge on the issue. It focuses on influxes in the
Caribbean, with reference to other impacted regions as appropriate.
This paper is a living document intended to be regularly updated so that
it remains current and relevant. This most recent update is the first
revision following the original version presented during the Eighth
Meeting of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC-8) to
the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) in
the Wider Caribbean Region held in Panama City, 5–7 December 2018.
The
original white paper drew upon desktop research and the results of a
survey disseminated to UNEP CEP National Focal points in 2018. This
update relies entirely on desktop research and review of recent
literature. It includes information on new initiatives, proposes a
strategy framework and concludes with a section that lists useful
resources.
This paper also builds on immense interest on this topic, with over
2,500 registrations to the 4 webinars hosted by UNEP in 2020. This was a
joint effort between the GPA Global Partnership on Nutrient Management,
UNEP’s Science Division, the Cartagena and Abidjan Convention
Secretariats of the Regional Seas Programmes, and UNESCO-IOC Harmful
Algal Blooms Programme.
The target audience of this paper is diverse, potentially including
researchers, policy makers, impacted sectors, and parties interested in
sargassum as a commodity, and therefore encompassing both technical and
nontechnical readers. Hence, the paper deliberately uses simplified
technical language while making reference to technical sources for those
interested in further reading.
SARGASSUM BACKGROUND AND IMPACTS
Sargassum is a genus or family of brown macroalgae or seaweed that
includes over 300 species distributed across the world in both temperate
and tropical oceans. Many species are pelagic, forming large floating
rafts or mats, but most have a benthic (bottom-attached) phase of their
life cycle.
A few species, thought only to occur in the Atlantic, are ‘holopelagic,’
meaning that they spend their entire life cycle afloat, transported by
ocean currents with influence from surface winds. While individuals of
these species may occasionally float alone, they more often tangle
together to form communities of many individuals, which can take the
form of large mats or rafts, or sometimes long lines called windrows.
These species are thought to reproduce only vegetatively through growth
and fragmentation. Knowledge of growth and mortality rates is limited,
although it is known that it can increase its biomass very quickly under
the right conditions, and that growth rates are affected by nutrients,
salinity and temperature (Desrochers et al. 2020).
Holopelagic sargassum occurs naturally in the North Atlantic, where
massive quantities contained by circulating currents form the Sargasso
Sea. It is also common in the Gulf
of Mexico where it blooms in the spring and supplies the Sargasso
Sea population via the Gulf Stream current, and it has been known to
occur occasionally in the Caribbean (Wang et al. 2019). Research into
the causes of the recent massive influxes of sargassum in the Caribbean
and West Africa has led to the identification of a new ‘consolidation
region’ in the Tropical Atlantic, between the Gulf
of Guinea and the north coast of Brazil that is generally agreed to
be the source of the influxes to the Caribbean and West Africa.
The influxes to the Caribbean have been found to consist predominantly
of two species of holopelagic sargassum, S. natans and S. fluitans.
There are various morphotypes of these species and some debate as to
whether there may be third additional distinct species.
(Desrochers et al. 2020)
3.1 PELAGIC SARGASSUM: BENEFITS
Holopelagic sargassum in the open ocean is generally beneficial. The
Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic, named for the seaweed, is formed by
circulating currents around the North-Atlantic subtropical gyre
supporting a large community/ population of holopelagic sargassum that
is the basis for a unique open-ocean ecosystem sometimes referred to as
a ‘golden floating rainforest.’ According to the Sargasso Sea
Commission, the ’Sargasso
Sea provides habitats, spawning areas, migration pathways and
feeding grounds to a diverse assortment of flora and fauna, including
endemic, endangered, and commercially important species.’ Similar
benefits obtain from free-floating sargassum are common in the Gulf of
Mexico.
Pelagic Sargassum in the Tropical Atlantic, though relatively new in
such quantities, does have some positive impacts in terms of habitat for
marine species. Hawksbill turtles, in particular, are said to be
benefiting from increased large Sargassum mats. In Jamaica, scientists
have observed an increase in survival rate and population growth of
juvenile hawksbill turtles during times of Sargassum infestation. The
large sargassum mats provide shelter and food, and thus greater chances
of survival. Dolphins also use large Sargassum mats for shelter and to
feed on fish.1
3.2 SARGASSUM INFLUX EVENTS: CAUSES
Identifying the causes of the sargassum influxes is fundamental and
critical to any future effort to mitigate the issue, as well as efforts
to predict the influxes that would support planning adaptive response
and management measures. This is therefore an active area of research.
This phenomenon does not stem from a single or simple cause, but rather
from complex combination of causal factors that may be visualised as
causal pathway or set of causal mechanisms. A key step in understanding
this causal pathway was identifying the new
consolidation region that is the source of these influxes. The existence
of this was confirmed through remote sensing since 2013 (Gower, Young
and King 2013). With this knowledge, it is possible to frame an outline
causal pathway as follows:
Within the framework of this causal pathway, there remains much that is
uncertain or unknown about the details of processes and mechanisms.
There is much debate, with numerous hypotheses advanced, as to the
establishment of the new consolidation region, i.e. how/why sargassum
was transferred there, and how/why it persists/proliferates there.
The
immediate proximal factors involved are likely linked to broader
underlying issues like general ocean eutrophication (land-based nutrient
pollution) and climate change (Table 2). Given the existence of the new
consolidation region, there is also general agreement that sargassum
influxes may be expected to continue as part of the ‘new normal’
until/unless mitigation may be achieved, i.e. the issue is unlikely to
resolve itself without intervention.
3.3 IMPACTS OF SARGASSUM INFLUX EVENTS
This section outlines the impacts of sargassum influxes in general, with
some specific examples.
It should be understood that the types and severity of impacts and
feasibility of responses all vary spatially across the Caribbean
according to several factors, including: coastline position (level of
exposure to sargassum influxes), geomorphology and coastal dynamics of
the impacted coastline, and presence/absence/proximity of vulnerable
resources, activities and operations along the impacted coastline. This
is discussed further in Section 7.
3.3.1 BIOPHYSICAL IMPACTS
Stranding on coastlines negatively impacts the sargassum itself (a
potentially beneficial habitat at sea) as it dies and subsequently
decays. Also in that process, the sustained presence of large quantities
of decaying biomass negatively impacts coastal and nearshore marine life
through a number of mechanisms:
It prevents vital sunlight from reaching important shallow-water
ecosystems (mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reefs) reducing
photosynthesis processes and causing rapid degradation and even coastal
dead zones.2 For example, the massive blooms of 2015 caused the mass
die-off of seagrass beds in Mexico, causing damage that may take years
or decades to repair (van Tussenbroek et al. 2019)
The accumulation and decay of large amounts of Sargassum in the water
can result in hypoxia (low oxygen levels) and the release of poisonous
hydrogen sulphide, potentially causing the death of marine life (Pfaff
2015). Smothering/ entanglement in large quantities of sargassum can
result in death for some marine animals. For example, significant
quantities of Sargassum on beaches prevent newly hatched turtles from
reaching the ocean. Similar may also be the case for interstitial
organisms in beach ecosystems. In water, the thick mats can prevent
animals from reaching the surface to breath, and entanglement can cause
animals to be washed onto shore along with the seaweed. Large numbers of
dead fish, sea turtles, and dolphins have been found dead, washed ashore
in the thick raft of seaweed.
A secondary, avoidable negative impact of the influxes relates to the
use of heavy machinery to remove massive Sargassum landings, which
impacts beach habitats and tend to worsen the environmental harm. The
use of heavy machinery causes compaction of beaches and kills organisms
that live in the sand, such as ghost crabs and other sea creatures that
keep a beach healthy by creating hundreds of holes that keep the beach
ventilated. Driving with heavy equipment will not only crush them, but
also kills any potential sea turtles’ nests. 3
Another impact is the removal of vast quantities of sand, resulting in
unintentional sand mining, and ends up affecting the entire beach
ecosystem. Sargassum washing ashore can in some cases yield a positive
impact, wherein the seaweed aids in stabilising the beach. This benefit
is likely lost with large quantities that overwhelm a beach or bay, and
would often be offset by major negative impacts depending on the
resources present and uses of the beach.
3.3.2 SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
Sargassum influxes negatively impact human well-being, activities, and
livelihoods as well as major sectors of Caribbean Economies. Key sectors
impacted include: coastal living and livelihoods, marine transport/
navigation, public health, fisheries and tourism. These impacts are
inter-related, with many stemming from one of the key drivers of
biophysical impacts – the decay of the sargassum biomass.
The production of hydrogen sulphide negatively impacts air quality,
results in very unpleasant odours, and prolonged exposure is unhealthy,
especially for persons with underlying respiratory conditions. This is
detrimental for coastal residents and beach users, whether local or
visitors. Beach users who live elsewhere have the option to avoid
impacted locations, while residents may be unable to avoid prolonged
exposure.
Large quantities of sargassum also spoil the aesthetic appeal of
Caribbean beaches, and inhibit access to nearshore waters. Both issues
affect residents, local beach users and tourists, while the latter
particularly impacts those whose livelihoods rely on the sea, such as
fishers who may need to access the water to access their equipment
and/or livelihood.
Specific sectoral impacts are outlined in Table 3 below, with specific
examples where available.
TABLE 2: SECTORAL IMPACTS AND EXAMPLES
PUBLIC HEALTH
IMPACT - There have been reports of respiratory problems, nausea,
headaches and irritation of the eyes believed to be caused by exposure
to high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide in the air. Furthermore,
direct contact with Sargassum may cause skin rashes and/or irritation,
not likely from the seaweed itself but because of some tiny organisms
that live in the Sargassum (Resiere et al. 2018).
Example(s) - Reports in St. Lucia suggest that both residents and
tourists have experienced higher incidences of respiratory problems
since the sargassum influxes began. Other complaints include nausea,
headaches, and skin rashes4.
COASTAL LIVING
IMPACT - Residents are unable to obtain relief from poor air quality,
health impacts, and unpleasant odours by simply avoiding the area. Beach
use that may have been a part of their lives will also be negatively
impacted. It has also been reported that decomposing Sargassum causes
corrosion of electrical appliances and equipment in the near vicinity
(Mendez-Tejeda and Rosado Jiménez 2019).
Example(s) - In the Dominican Republic, coastal residents have reported
that sargassum causes the corrosion of metal infrastructure and boats,
which is likely associated with the effects of hydrogen sulphide. These
effects dissipate as exposure decreases.
TOURISM
IMPACT - Spoiled aesthetics, unpleasant odours, difficult access to the
beach/sea, and potential health risks all diminish or destroy the
‘sun-sand-and sea’ appeal of Caribbean tourism.
As a result, some areas of the Caribbean have witnessed large declines
in tourism. This has significant impacts on the overall national
economy, as well as direct impacts on those across income levels who
make their livelihoods through tourism. Waterfront hotels may incur
costs of beach clean-ups to alleviate the issue on their frontage (see
below). Watersports operators would be directly impacted both through
reduced visitor numbers and similar access issues as fishers (below).
Example(s) - Mexico experienced 35% drop in tourism during the first
quarter of 2018 attributed to sargassum influxes.
FISHERIES
IMPACT - Sargassum blooms also result in reduced access to fishing
grounds and disrupted fishing
operations when, in worst case scenarios, fisheries cannot take their
boats out to sea (Solarin et al. 2014). Fisheries and aquaculture may
also be severely impacted by the mortality of fish and other marine life
(Pfaff 2015), resulting in reduced and/or altered fish
catches (Fogarty 2018).
Example(s) - In Barbados, the arrival of massive amounts of Sargassum
have coincided with a dramatic decrease in flying
fish landings from 981 tons in 2014, to 278 tons in 2015. This
represented a 72 percent decline in one of the island’s most important
fisheries (Oxenford et al. 2019).
MARITIME SHIPPING/NAVIGATION
IMPACT - Ships and boats may find it difficult to navigate through thick
mats of Sargassum which affects the engines.
Example(s) - Transatlantic sailors have reported that thicker clumps of
sargassum slowed down their boats significantly. The biggest problem is
caused by seaweed snagging on spade rudders and bulb keels creating
drag.5
DIRECT COSTS
IMPACT - In addition to economic and livelihoods losses as outlined
above, especially tourism
and fisheries,
there are direct costs associated with alleviation measures such as
beach cleaning. Depending on the location, these direct costs may be
borne by
government or hotels or both.
Example(s) - Mexico has spent USD$17 million to remove Sargassum from
over 1,000 km (621 miles) of Mexican beaches through 2019. From May to
August 2019, 69,606.1 tons of Sargassum was collected and 13,527 people
were employed to clean up beaches.
3.4 SARGASSUM COASTAL INFLUX EVENTS - HAZARD OR OPPORTUNITY?
It is important to make a clear distinction between floating sargassum
on the high seas and floating sargassum that has been transported to and
stranded in nearshore coastal areas in large quantities. The former is
generally beneficial as outlined above. It is the latter that generates
the significant negative impacts prompting this paper. When stranded in
coastal areas, the sargassum itself dies, and many of the negative
impacts originate with its decay.
Given the scale and extent of the negative impacts these influx events
may be characterized as a recurring hazard. The unprecedented scale of
the Sargassum influxes also led to declaration of emergency conditions
in several Caribbean countries e.g. Tobago in 2015, Barbados in 2018,
and Mexico in 2019 (Chavez et al. 2020).
Sargassum has also been identified as a potential resource that may be
commoditised. There is potential for a variety of uses including
agriculture, bioenergy, bioplastics, bioremediation and purification,
construction and cosmetic among others (Desrochers et al. 2020). As
such, its transport in large quantities by natural processes to the
Caribbean may represent an opportunity for economic development. At the
same time, the Sargasso Sea Commission has identified the future
harvesting of sargassum as a potential threat to the Sargasso Sea6.
Harvesting Sargassum in the tropical Atlantic that would otherwise be
stranded with the attendant negative impacts to supply that demand may
have the co-benefit of helping to mitigate that risk to the Sargasso
Sea.
This is however contingent on several factors that remain uncertain or
unresolved on both the supply and demand sides. These include the
capacity and costs required to efficiently harvest, store and transport
sargassum for processing, as well as requirements for or preclusions
from various potential end uses, e.g. some end uses may achieve a better
yield with only certain types of sargassum, some processes may require
fresh versus dried sargassum, or the presence of heavy metal or
contaminants may preclude its use for certain applications. Another
factor is the relative product yields based on a specific volume of
fresh sargassum (Figure 5). Countries may want to explore uses that
require larger volumes of sargassum and simple processing techniques to
support cost-recovery initiatives.
On the last point, there are concerns regarding potential health
implications with the consumption or utilization of Sargassum as
fertilizer because of the potential harmful contents and the possibility
that some crops may take up the contents of the seaweed. The French
Research laboratory Institut Technique Tropical (IT²), along with the
Agency of the Environment and Energy (ADEME) have produced an extensive
study to warn about the utilization of sargassum as a soil fertilizer
for two main reasons: the high risk of salinization of soils as well as
the relative low results (based on cucumber, lettuce, sweet potato,
bananas and sugar cane exploitations). Further research in this area is
important to define the exact toxins and concentration levels to
determine potential safe utilization purposes.
At this stage, while efforts to explore the potential opportunity are
underway, the reality is that sargassum influxes remain more of a hazard
than a benefit until key issues are resolved.
4 CARIBBEAN REGIONAL SITUATION
The Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) is geopolitically diverse and complex
(Mahon et. al. 2013, Debels et al. 2017); indeed it is the most diverse
and complex among the Regional
Seas Programmes. There are numerous political entities, vast
differences in size, and varying levels of development (Debels et al.
2017). The region contains numerous small island developing states
(SIDS), with the well-known associated sustainable development
challenges – the WCR contains the largest number of SIDS of any region
globally, and by
extension the largest number in any of the Regional Seas Programmes.
While there are many commonalities and valid generalisations, the region
is less homogenous and more variable than many realise. This has
implications for both how sargassum impacts countries and territories of
the region, as well as the suitability of responses.
There are numerous ways to categorise the countries and territories in
this complex region. For the purposes of this discussion, consider two
broad categories/subsets outlined in Table 3. Note these are broad
generalisations to make certain key points, and there will be some
exceptions.
TABLE 3:
The impacts of sargassum influxes are outlined in general in Section 3.
However, it is important to understand that impacts are not uniform
across the region, or even across each territory. This heterogeneity
also has implications for management and response strategies, in
particular collection/ harvesting logistics. Key examples are outlined
below:
A) The impacts of sargassum stranding and the suitability of the
responses are influenced by coastline morphology and dynamics (shape,
orientation, physical features, processes like waves/currents). A key
distinction is that long beaches on continental landmasses will receive
larger quantities of sargassum in a continuous stretch, whereas small
beaches on a small island will receive smaller, fragmented amounts of
sargassum. On islands where there are numerous pocket beaches, such as
Barbados and Antigua, this fragmentation of the
sargassum ‘supply’ is even more pronounced.
B) Specific coastlines, typically those that are windward/ Atlantic
facing are impacted the most. For the islands of the Eastern Caribbean
in particular, this is typically the most rugged and exposed coastline,
with the most difficult sea conditions, often remote from urban centres
and sometimes with difficult access.
C) Secondary impacts of sargassum influxes depend on the assets/
resources present at that coastline, e.g. tourism impacts are limited if
that is not an important tourism site, similarly impacts on coral reefs
/ seagrasses are not relevant if those systems are not present at that
site.
D) Capacity to respond varies significantly as well. SIDS and less
developed countries already struggle to mobilise resources to address
environmental issues and hazards.
Consequently, a blanket approach for the region is not suitable, as
approaches and technologies that work well in one location may nor may
not be transferrable to another. Critical analysis of the specific
situation is required to identify and prioritise specific impacts,
determine the appropriate course of action, and efficiently allocate
resources. A hazard exposure and vulnerability assessment framework is
outlined in Section 8 as a recommended approach for each territory.
While it is agreed that sargassum influxes represent a major
transboundary issue requiring regional cooperation, it is also
understood that regional ocean governance arrangements are complex,
reflecting the overall complexity of the region as described above. Key
issues such as weakness in regional natural resources governance,
limited human capacity and financial resources, and external dependency
have been identified as root causes of environmental degradation in the
WCR (Mahon et. al 2013). It should be expected that associated
challenges will also manifest in efforts to coordinate sargassum
response regionally. Management and governance at the regional level for
sargassum influxes are discussed/described in detail in Section 6.
As things stand, there is significant variability in the uptake and
various technologies in predicting, monitoring, collecting/harvesting,
or sargassum and little in the way of consistent application across
monitoring programmes. “Regional” projects are often targeted at a
specific groups of beneficiary countries rather than the region as a
whole. The multiple languages in the region can lead to language
barriers that hinder transboundary collaboration, as cited by a recent
paper on coral reef restoration (Bayraktarov, et al. 2020). Fortunately,
numerous collaborations on sargassum issues have cut-across language
barriers (e.g. Sarg’COOP, Appendix III), and some key publications
including this white paper will be produced in English, Spanish and
French.
5. CARIBBEAN SARGASSUM STAKEHOLDERS
Since the impacts of sargassum influxes are multi-sectoral, there is
correspondingly a wide range of stakeholders. Stakeholder dynamics,
interrelationships and interests are also often complex, again
reflecting the general regional circumstances and governance
arrangements as above. In order to identify stakeholders at the regional
level with reasonable representation across sectors and interests, a
stakeholder map has been developed (Table 4). The map is structured
around three broad categories, namely:
• Stakeholders responding to sargassum influxes as a hazard requiring
management, mitigation or adaptation;
• Stakeholders responding to sargassum as a resource/ commodity/
opportunity; and
• Stakeholders with broad interests in sargassum both in terms of both
hazard management
and potential opportunity.
Each of these broad categories is further sub-divided into sectors, e.g.
tourism, fisheries etc., and stakeholder organisations in each
category/sector are identified across the public and private sector as
well as the NGO/CSO community. Several actors working at the marine
science-policy interface in the Caribbean are featured in the
stakeholder map. Of notable mention is the UNEPCEP’s Specially
Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW)- Regional Activity Centre’s (RAC)
role in engaging regional stakeholders and facilitating networking
opportunities related to sargassum management and research. Many of
these initiatives and partners are featured in the regional sargassum
activities illustration (Section 6) and in the appendices. Section 8
outlines the contribution of the SPAW protocol to the regional sargassum
management strategy in more detail.
TABLE 4: REGIONAL SECTORAL STAKEHOLDER MAP
6. STRATEGY FRAMEWORK
The range of possible interventions and management strategies may be
broadly categorised as either adaptation or mitigation (meaning
mitigation of the sargassum issue as distinct from climate change
mitigation). Adaptation responses may be further categorised as efforts
in forecasting, collection, disposal, or harvesting and reuse.
Mitigation options are not well developed and require additional
information on the root causes of the issue for further advancement.
Policy development and coordination is also critical, and this will
enable both adaptive and mitigative interventions. This strategy
framework, presented in Table 5, will be used to identify gaps in
coverage and make specific recommendations.
Some types of interventions are dependent on understanding the causal
pathways/ and mechanisms of this issue. Efforts in mitigation and
prediction have differing needs out of the causal analysis (Section
3.2). In the context of the causal framework, key questions in exploring
mitigation include: ‘how/ why does sargassum proliferate in the new
consolidation region?’ (leading to ‘can it be stopped/ reduced?’),
and ‘was the incident that transferred sargassum to the new source
region a one-time occurrence, or is there some means of recurrence or
exchange between the new consolidation region and the original
source?’ (the latter would stymie mitigation). Prediction is more
considered with the process by which sargassum detaches from the main
consolidation region and is transported to the Caribbean.
A key activity required as part or in support of these interventions is
monitoring and quantifying sargassum influxes. This is needed to help
validate forecasts, plan collection/harvesting logistics, plan and
prepare for disposal, and explore use/ commoditisation opportunities.
Some of the adaptation intervention categories have clear links with Blue
Economy development, and should be explored further in that context
and in coordination with various regional blue economy initiatives.
FIGURE 6: STRATEGY FRAMEWORK
7. INTERVENTIONS AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
This section provides a review of existing and ongoing interventions and
management strategies, including regional sargassum activities
(meetings, symposia, workshops, conferences, grass roots activities etc
), formal projects, programmes and initiatives, and governance
arrangements. The presentation of this review is organised along the
same lines as the overall strategy framework outlined in the previous
section, in order to elucidate gaps in coverage and support subsequent
recommendations.
Figure 7 below illustrates notable regional sargassum
activities from 2015-2021. Other activities not highlighted in the
figure include the creation of numerous sargassum Facebook groups to
promote information exchange, beach clean ups organised by community
groups and art advocacy initiatives to inspire solutions.
FIGURE 7: REGINAL SARGASSUM ACTIVITES TIMELINE (2015-2021)
Both the science and the management of this entirely new phenomenon were
relatively slow to get going and are still ‘playing catch-up’ in
what has now become a fast-moving and dynamic area of research and
development. Some strides have been made albeit rather slowly in the
development of forecasting and monitoring initiatives. We outline the
most noteworthy in Appendix I and II. Appendix III highlights 27 ongoing
projects, programmes and initiatives that are being implemented in the
Caribbean region and in West Africa in some cases.
Several countries in the Caribbean region have established or are in the
process of setting up multi-agency/multi-sectoral Taskforces or National
Committees to provide support and coordination in addressing sargassum
influxes. However, in many cases, the ability of these
Taskforces/Committees to function has been limited by funding. In
addition, draft sargassum management plans or strategies (Appendix IV)
that have been or are being developed for some countries lack approval
from cabinet or other competent authorities and resources to support
implementation.
As part of the Climate
Change Adaptation in the Eastern Caribbean Fisheries Sector
(CC4FISH) project (Appendix III), CERMES, FAO and other regional
partners are collaborating on several sargassum related initiatives
including the development of draft national sargassum plans for four
countries (Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and
the Grenadines) in the Eastern Caribbean. These drafts build upon
national level activities implemented under CC4FISH and other
initiatives that seek to address sargassum influx events as a hazard and
an opportunity. Principles of disaster risk management are being
employed to address the threat aspect, while
strategies for encouraging investment in innovation and entrepreneurship
are provided to take advantage of the opportunity. Developing uses will
require consideration by governments to update policies and regulations
to allow expansion of sargassum enterprises. For example, governments
will need to permit feed-in tariffs to allow the sale of electricity
onto the grid and support companies in getting the necessary
accreditation.
The plans are primarily a practical action, or operational plan, or an
adaptive management strategy meant to be a framework for frequently
updated content. Short, medium and long-term strategies are included
with local strategies tailored to country and stranding site contexts.
Special emphasis is placed on the importance of multilevel planning and
management through intersectoral collaboration (Cox et al. 2019).
National
inter-sectoral coordination mechanisms (NICS) such as ocean governance
committees (OGC) or fisheries advisory committees (FAC) are recommended
for overseeing the implementation of the plans – as opposed to new
sargassum-dedicated committees. These mechanisms can also provide a
governance structure with a view of building resilience through adaptive
capacity.
It has been recommended that these plans would be best placed as an
annex to updated fisheries management plans (where applicable) and be
operationalised as a set of webpages and links rather than remaining a
static document unless it is regularly
updated (every quarter, for example). Sargassum research, management and
uses are all very dynamic; information is soon outdated or contested,
but typically both with high uncertainty.
8. GAP ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The review of background information and ongoing interventions presented
above was used to make an assessment of remaining gaps – in
information and understanding, and in response. The gaps identified are
outlined here, and then used to make recommendations. This section is
organised to follow the strategy framework (Section 6).
8.1 FORECASTING
Forecasting efforts, though much progress has been made, still provide
only relatively low precision. Influxes do not follow a regular pattern,
there are significant interannual variations. Key constraints to be
addressed include:
A) limited optical satellite coverage in the cloud-covered sargassum
source regions;
B) relatively low satellite image resolution and optical ‘noise’
(e.g. sun glint, Sahara dust, atmospheric moisture);
C) lack of information on the growth and mortality rates of floating
sargassum as it travels through different environments;
D) lack of validation of regional wind induced slippage added in the
predictive models versus actual movement of sargassum mats in situ; and
E) lack of consistent national and site-level monitoring of sargassum
strandings, especially the quantity (as volume or weight) and the
location, constrains the ability to validate predictive models.
Addressing the gaps in forecasting will require costly high precision
imagery and radar that could help in observing movements of sargassum
nearshore and support local predictions of strandings. This imagery can
also address the uncertainty in the accuracy of open ocean current
models over long-distance paths through this complex and dynamic ocean
region. Research collaborations with meteorologists and radar
specialists may offer an opportunity to explore this recommendation.
8.2 HARVESTING/COLLECTION AND USE
With regard to the variation across the region outlined in Section 4,
effective adaptive planning requires additional resolution at the level
of the specific territories being affected. There is a need to
acknowledge variation in impacts and systematically identify specific
impacts and their spatial distribution, along with capacity and
logistics within country/territory into order to effectively direct
interventions to priority locations.
In
order to evaluate country specific dimensions to sargassum impacts and
responses, a coordinated programme of consistent spatially explicit
hazard exposure and vulnerability assessments at the national level is
recommended. This, or the information needed to support it, may exist to
varying degrees in some locations. This would involve the following:
1. Mapping the spatial distribution of sargassum influxes (exposure)
2. Assessing exposed sites, mapping/ identifying the assets/ resources /
activities / resources
within/ near the exposure zones and identifying the specific impacts at
the site
3. Assessing the vulnerability of the impacted assets/ resources /
activities/ operations
FIGURE 8: SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF SARGASSUM AFFECTED LOCATIONS WITHIN
THE BARBADOS INTEGRATED COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT (ICZM) SUB AREAS
This assessment would be used to:
A) Prioritise the most severely impacted and/ or vulnerable sites and/or
assets/resources/ activities/ operations
B) Assess the most suitable interventions and where they are best
applied
D) Assess how vulnerability may be reduced
E) Design targeted interventions and plan the spatial distribution of
those interventions for maximum impact
Interventions thus far focus on adaptation to intermittent sargassum
influxes as a hazard, because direct mitigation of the issue is
currently not possible. This in turn is because the root causes
(transfer to and persistence in the new consolidation region, Section
3.2) are not well enough understood to effectively target them. This
requires further research and development that would require substantial
human and financial resources and the establishment of a regional
governance framework given the fact that these root causes are
transboundary issues.
A key question as part of this would be, was the transfer a one-off
occurrence, or was there a continuous, possibly recurring process of
transfer (one-way) or even exchange (two-ways)? While there has been and
continues to be work looking at the feasibility and marketability of
sargassum uses and products, making the shift from hazard to opportunity
requires more attention to potential value chains. This would involve
assessing the locations where sargassum is available for collection,
volumes available (including the inherent variability), the logistics of
harvesting both in-water and onshore, the logistics of transfer to
storage and/or use/production site, and finally the distribution of
products to end users, and the costs and resources needed at each step.
Such an analysis is needed for effective business planning at a scale
significant enough to remove enough sargassum to begin to reduce the
negative impacts. End use requirements – such as specific types of
sargassum, fresh versus dry, absence of additional materials that may be
mixed with sargassum - also need to be considered in the value chain to
promote efficient production.
FIGURE 9: SARGASSUM VALUE CHAIN SCHEMATIC
- Harvesting
- Storage
- Transportation
- Processing & packaging
- Distribution
The potential commoditisation of sargassum also raises issues around
ownership and rights to the ‘resource.’ There is some research into
this issue, but beyond research, policy development work is required to
address this, recognising that similar to other natural resources, this
may be handled differently in different countries/ territories in the
context of existing policy/legal frameworks.
The Caribbean is in the process of exploring the concept of the Blue
Economy and developing strategies at the regional and national levels
for Blue Economy development. There are opportunities for sargassum
innovations to be considered as blue growth initiatives which can be
integrated into blue economy strategic frameworks and road maps. This
can support economic diversification and resilience to reduce economic
vulnerability and reliance on a small number of sectors.
8.3 POLICY AND COORDINATION
No regional governance framework specific to the pelagic sargassum
phenomenon exists to guide appropriate responses in the Caribbean. There
is a lack of policy and management plans/strategies to deal with
strandings, and many of those that exist have not been officially
endorsed or implemented. In addition, there is also a lack of
regulations to support harvesting, transport and production standard.
This has led to a poor environment for encouraging investment in
large-scale solutions.
The general lack of governance arrangements (policies, management plans
and regulations), applicable to sargassum harvesting and use, needs to
be addressed. Government policies and programmes need to present a more
attractive and enabling environment that fosters innovation and supports
the expansion of existing enterprises and the development of new
industries.
Protocols and standards need to be developed to prevent environmental
damage and ensure the safety of products for consumptive or contact
uses. There are significant deficiencies in coordination and integration
that relate to underlying deficiencies in regional ocean governance as
outlined previously (Section 4). The response to sargassum influxes is a
dynamic arena - there is no shortage of initiatives. This has reached
the point of almost being problematic, creating information overload and
difficulty in tracking related work. Too often, new initiatives are
pursued rather than linking or building on existing ones.
For this reason, it is recommended that the CLME+ Strategic Action
Programme (SAP) Interim Coordination Mechanism (ICM) should be leveraged
to promote interactive governance of the sargassum issue in the region.
The objectives of the ICM align with the recommendations outlined in
previous sections that aim to enhance regional coordination and
collaboration and support oversight.
Beyond the Caribbean, the need for transatlantic collaboration,
including impacted countries/territories from both the Caribbean and
West Africa has been highlighted in numerous meetings, conferences and
webinars. While there are some collaborations that have begun, this
remains an area in need of strengthening.
9. CONTRIBUTION OF THE CARTEGENA CONVENTION TO THE STRATEGY
COOPERATION: Facilitate regional cooperation and guide national action
to protect and sustainably manage ecosystems and species of national and
regional concern: that may be affected by the Sargassum influx. This can
be achieved through the CLME+ Strategic Action Programme (SAP) Interim
Coordination Mechanism.
DATA: Ongoing cooperation with the IOCARIBE Oil Spills and Sargassum EWS,
USF, Texas A&M University, CONABIO, NOAA-AOML, USM and UWICERMES for
Sargassum early prediction systems.
PLANNING & POLICY: Emphasis on ecosystem-management approach, linked
primarily via the EBM Italian Project, the CLME+ project and UN Decades
on Ecosystem Restoration and Ocean Science. Provide guidance to
implement provisions of related and broader agreements.
CAPACITY BUILDING & OUTREACH: Emphasis on capacity building, public
education and awareness, community participation, scientific information
specifically through the Sargasso Forum and Parties participation in the
Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC).
Active Working Group on Sargassum to advise regional decision makers by
preparing Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) documents
to be endorsed politically at the COP. Link with the Abidjan Convention
to coordinate a Transatlantic action. ONE UN approach aiming to build
synergies and promote coordination and efficient use of resources.
10. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
The use of the term ‘sargassum influx’ is recommended when
addressing the challenges and impacts posed by large landings of
sargassum. This terminology adequately reflects massive inundations and
avoids erroneously characterising the genus Sargassum itself as an
undesirable group of species.
The CEP Secretariat should increase collaboration and joint programming
between the SPAW and LBS Protocols, particularly in the context of the
SPAW Sargassum Working Group. The Secretariat is well positioned to
promote regional cooperation on ocean governance
and ensure ecologically friendly management interventions given the
ecological and socioeconomic implications of sargassum influxes for the
entire area under the Cartagena
Convention (UNEP-CEP 2019).
The SPAW Protocol should develop further cooperation with relevant
organisations and initiatives in order to minimise duplication and
enhance SPAW programme delivery.
Collaboration
with the Abidjan Convention (West Africa) and others such as the
GEOBluePlanet (Sargassum Information Hub) and Florida International
University (SargNet) is encouraged with the objective of consolidating a
common platform for Sargassum
management in the Wider Caribbean and West Africa.
The CLME+ Strategic Action Programme (SAP) Interim Coordination
Mechanism (ICM) should be leveraged to promote interactive governance of
the sargassum issue in the region.
11. CONCLUSION
Significant progress has been made in the last 10 years since sargassum
influxes first emerged in the region. However, responses to addressing
the issue have generally been reactive rather that proactive resulting
in environmental degradation, inefficient use of
resources and poor governance. There also has been significant research
and business interest in exploiting sargassum as a commodity, or
exploiting those desperate to be rid of sargassum. The arena is now very
dynamic with the entry of many players with varying,
sometimes competing interests. There are numerous projects and
initiatives at national, multi-country and sub-regional levels that are
sometimes very similar in nature, yet no formal attempt has been made to
explore opportunities for promoting synergies to avoid unnecessary
duplication.
This complexity is consistent with and reflective of the complexity and
character of the region, but adds to the challenge of mounting a
coherent response. With so much going on, while coordination and
collaboration are much spoken of, there are inevitably fragmentation,
disconnects and gaps. Effort and resources are not being applied
efficiently or optimally. This situation has needed a systematic and
strategic big picture review to consider what is being done, identify
gaps and devise a strategy to better coordinate and apply effort and
resources, fill gaps, recover costs, and promote synergies between
existing initiatives. This white paper update seeks to begin that
process through the provision of recommendations that will be validated
through regional stakeholder input. Next steps include the development
of a concept note to operationalise this strategy in an effort to reduce
vulnerability and increase resilience to this issue, while seeking to
explore emerging opportunity potential.
12. SELECTED READING
The documents listed below have either been cited in the preceding text
of this white paper or provide additional information on many aspects of
the sargassum issue. The list is not exhaustive.
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coastline of the Mexican Caribbean. PeerJ, 7:e6842 DOI: http://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6842
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Popendorf, K. J., Oehlert, A. M., ... & Gaston, C. J. 2019. African
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M. Blanco et al. 2020. Coral reef restoration efforts in Latin American
countries and territories. bioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2020.02.16.950998
Beron-Vera, F.J., M. J. Olascoaga, P. Miron. 2019. Building a
Maxey–Riley framework for surface ocean inertial particle dynamics,
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Berline, L., A. Ody, J Jouanno, C. Chevalier, Jean-Michel André, et al.
2020. Hindcasting the 2017 dispersal of Sargassum algae in the Tropical
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Brooks, M. T., V. J. Coles, W. C. Coles. 2019. Inertia influences
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CAST-CHTA. 2015. Sargassum: a resource guide for the Caribbean.
Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism, Caribbean Hotel and Tourism
Association, Coral Gables, Miami, FL, USA, 14pp. CERMES and MMABE. 2021.
Draft Barbados Sargassum Adaptive Management Strategy. Volume 2: Action
Appendices. Draft co-developed by the Centre for Resource Management and
Environmental Studies (CERMES) and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and
Blue Economy
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Chávez, Valeria; Uribe-Martínez, Abigail; Cuevas, Eduardo; Rodríguez-Martínez,
Rosa E.; van Tussenbroek, Brigitta I.; Francisco, Vanessa; Estévez,
Miriam; Celis, Lourdes B.; Monroy-Velázquez, L. V.; Leal-Bautista,
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Silva, Rodolfo. 2020. Massive Influx of Pelagic Sargassum spp. on the
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Resource Management and Environmental Studies, University of the West
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13. APPENDICES
AFFECTED
CARIBBEAN ISLANDS BY POPULATION
Cuba 11,252,999
Haiti 11,263,077
(Hispaniola)
Dominican
Republic 10,766,998 (Hispaniola)
Puerto
Rico (US) 3,508,000
Jamaica 2,729,000
Trinidad
and Tobago 1,357,000
Guadeloupe (France)
405,000
Martinique (France)
383,000
Bahamas 379,000
Barbados 283,000
Saint
Lucia 172,000
Curaçao (Netherlands)
157,000
Aruba (Netherlands)
110,000
Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines 110,000
United
States Virgin Islands 105,000
Grenada 104,000
Antigua
and Barbuda 89,000
Dominica 71,000
Cayman
Islands (UK) 59,000
Saint
Kitts and Nevis 46,000
Sint
Maarten (Netherlands) 39,000
Turks
and Caicos Islands (UK) 37,000
Saint
Martin (France) 36,000
British
Virgin Islands (UK) 31,000
Caribbean
Netherlands 26,000
Anguilla (UK)
14,000
Saint
Barthélemy (France) 10,000
Montserrat (UK)
5,000
Tortuga 25,936
Roatán 110,000
Environmental
work includes looking at marine
litter and plastic as is spread throughout the
Pacific
Ocean, Indian
Ocean, Atlantic
Ocean,
Mediterranean
Sea
and Caribbean
Sea, but not actually collecting or processing waste operationally.
Plastic waste though is on the increase. Mainly because there
are no major cleanup operations, or funding to develop any effective
means of filtering micro
and macro plastics from seawater.
Then, there are ghost
fishing nets. Again, there is no official programme for dealing with
offending fishermen, or for collecting discarded nets. Recovery is
reliant on small organizations and volunteers, who only recover the
occasional net.
Another
important issue is the sargassum proliferating in the Sargasso
Sea, then finding its way to the Gulf
of Mexico and Caribbean
Islands, where it ruins the local economy and ecology. Recovered
seaweed
could be useful for:
BIOMASS
- BUILDING
MATERIALS - CANCER
- CLOTHING
& SHOES -
CO2
SEQUESTRATION - COSMETICS
FERTILIZERS
- FOODS
- MEDICINES
- MINERALS
-
PACKAGING
- SUPPLEMENTS
- VITAMINS
'UNEP'
is the United Nations
Environment Programme. Their mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
In our view leadership equals actions. Doing not talking about doing.
The difference between having an idea, and doing it - is doing it.
Anyone can talk about doing things and encourage other people to take
risks and think creatively, but few step into the arena and act on their
ideas - putting their time and money where their mouths are.