RESEARCH & INNOVATION
Sargassum Conundrum
Are Caribbean states facing a dilemma in their challenge to manage large swathes of Sargassum that have been washing ashore in recent years? While tourism players bemoan the seaweed that can turn pristine coastline into polluted beaches, fisherfolk are cashing in on increased catches that nestle in the floating habitat.
N ew research - with implications for other visitors annually due to these influxes. Yet authorities may have limited options since the algae is home to several species of fishes utilised in the country’s fisheries sector. The research was conducted under the SargAdapt project that started in 2019 in response to the Sargassum infestation that began in the Caribbean in 2011. SargAdapt is being implemented by the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) , countries in the region - has found that Barbados could lose over 40,000 The University of the West Indies at Cave Hill. It is helping Barbados along with Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to assist in reducing the impacts of and improve adaptation to these influxes in the Eastern Caribbean. SargAdapt is managed under a Caribbean Biodiversity Fund project that is co-financed by the International Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety through KfW Development Bank . Much like Barbados, tourism is a major foreign exchange earner for other countries
in the project. Hence, CERMES’ postgraduate student and research assistant with the SargAdapt project Jeanelle Irvine , collaborated with other researchers to examine the likely effect of Sargassum on the tourism industry. They investigated whether tourists who encountered the algae were less likely to return to Barbados or might be unwilling to return should larger volumes washed ashore in the future. The researchers received 175 respondents to their beach recreationist interception survey undertaken in April- May 2022 at Enterprise Beach (also called Miami Beach, located in Oistins) and the Richard Haynes Boardwalk , both high-traffic tourist areas affected by Sargassum. Questions focused on visitors’ encounters with Sargassum on beaches and how their decision to return to Barbados would be affected if the seaweed deposits increased by a range of 10, 30, 50 or 90 per cent. Sixty per cent of respondents said they saw little Sargassum, 13 per cent saw a lot, 25 per cent said they hadn’t seen it, and two per cent said they did not know if they saw it. While most people said they would return, responses grew less favourable based on the hypothetical scenarios of Sargassum increasing.
CHILL NEWS 52
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