Across the Eastern Caribbean, sargassum seaweed has long been a critical challenge for coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and local economies. Now a study tour through Martinique and Guadeloupe is shaping a more coordinated regional response.
Susana Agüero, EU Program manager for Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean States, the OECS, and CARICOM/CARIFORUM, demonstrated Martinique’s integrated approach — combining manual collection, sea barriers, and offshore harvesting — along with emerging storage and processing methods that could soon turn sargassum into commercial products.
The stakes are high: decaying seaweed along shorelines such as the fishing village of Soubree, Grenada, releases toxic gases, degrades mangroves and coral reefs, worsens coastal erosion, and damages small-scale fishing equipment and access to fishing grounds.
Delegates toured every stage of the management cycle, from offshore interception barriers and barges to manual collection sites at Macabou and Pointe Faula, where Dr. Hardin Jn. Pierre of St. Lucia’s Ministry of Agriculture noted the value of avoiding heavy machinery that can disrupt sea turtle nesting habitat. They also reviewed air-quality monitoring partnerships and frontline safety measures like personal gas monitors for response teams. At the Holdex facility in Le François, Martinique, participants saw sargassum converted into compost and biogas, with processed seaweed shown to boost agricultural yields by as much as 14 percent.
