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Unprecented Influx Of Pelagic Sargassum Along
Caribbean Island Coastlines During 2011
Center for Fisheries Research & Development Gulf Coast Research Laboratory The University of Southern Mississippi 1Naval Research Laboratory Stennis Space Center, Mississippi 2 Caribbean Network of Fisherfolk Organizations, Antigua and Barbuda 64th GCFI, Puerto Morelos, Mexico November 2011
James Franks, Donald Johnson, 1Dong-Shan Ko, Guillermo Sanchez, Read Hendon and 2Mitchell Lay
Pelagic Sargassum - ‘Gulf weed’
Pelagic Brown Alga Class Phaeophyceae
Drift alga
Two holopelagic species,
co-occur
Occur in warm waters of
Atlantic Ocean
Asexual reproduction -
fragmentation
Sargassum natans
Sargassum fluitans
Dynamic ecosystem
Essential Fish Habitat
Diverse assemblage of
marine life
BARBADOS
Crane Beach Photo credit: Hazel Oxenford
GRENADA
Photo credit: Richard Roach
GUADELOUPE
Porte d’Enfer – Anse-Bertrand
All photos by Franck Mazéas, Responsable Unite biodiversité marine AMP / IFRECOR, Basse Terre
Porte de Désirade
Eastern Shore
Mamora Bay
Eli Fuller – Adventure Antigua
Photo credit: Max Freeling; Bugpilot
ANTIGUA
ST. MARTIN, Grandaes Cayes
ST. KITTS, North Frigate Bay
Photo credit: Ouanalao Studios
Photo credit
ST. BARTS
Dominican Republic
Playa de Juancho
Playa Bavaro
Photo credit:
Expressed Concerns and Reported Impacts
Fisher livelihoods
• Entangled lines and nets
• Difficulties accessing fishery resources
• Vessels: motor intakes (over-heating); launching issues
Reefs, benthic communities & seagrasses
• Reduced light levels, smothering, decomposition of Sargassum
Mangroves; turtles (hatchlings)
Power plant cooling water intakes; local infrastructure
Tourism: incessant incursion of Sargassum into bays & onto
shorelines; decomposition & consequences for local communities
RESPONSE
Communications: media reports, videos, interviews, websites,
GCFI listserv
Aerial surveys – government agencies: assess extent & duration
Resource assessments underway in some impacted areas
• Biological & socio-economic
Information exchange within fishing organizations & co-ops
Mobilization of local communities/actions groups
• Shoreline cleanups: Antigua & Barbuda Fisherman’s Coop.
QUESTIONS
“Why the massive influx of Sargassum”?
• Source/origin of the Sargassum?
• Transport pathway(s) into the region?
• Changing/shifting currents regionally?
• Local or regional productivity/nutrification event?
• Climate change – warming waters & accelerated growth?
• Duration: singular, annual or episodic event?
Intra-Americas Sea Ocean Nowcast/Forecast System Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, MS USA
Real-time operational numerical model: date & location of reported
Sagassum coupled w/ current data to back-track movements/distribution
of Sargassum through archived currents; predict drift pathways to region
May – August 2011
Sierra Leone: August 2011
500 km coastline affected by Sargassum Per: Andrew Huckbody; Huckbody Environmental Ltd.
Google Earth
Summary thoughts
Summary Thoughts….
Connectivity across the tropical Atlantic via currents
Transport pathway(s) into Caribbean region
• The local situation probably owes its existence to variation in
meterological and oceanographic conditions.
Recurrence of 2011 event?
• Monitor pelagic Sargassum in the region via combination of
satellite imagery & ocean modeling
• The ability to monitor pelagic Sargassum in Atlantic Ocean
might serve as a predictor of climate change.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
GCFI Network [GCFINET@LISTSERV.GCFI.ORG]
Franck Mazéas (DEAL, Guadeloupe)
Hazel Oxenford (Univ. West Indies, Barbados)
Issac Croften (Fisheries Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Grenada)
Mitch Roffer (Roffer’s Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service, Inc.)
Jeannette Mateo (CODOPESCA)
Rosemarie Kishore (Institute of Marine Affairs, Trinidad & Tobago)
Susan Singh-Renton (CRFM, St. Vincent & The Grenadines)
David Olsen (St. Thomas Fisherman’s Assoc.)
Capt. Anderson Kinch (Barbados)
Capt. Marcos Hanke (Puerto Rico)
Eugino Pinerio (Puerto Rico)
Fadilah Ali (Tobago)
Eli Fuller (Adventure Antigua)
Andrew Huckbody (Huckbody Environmental Ltd.)
Jacques Denis (Martinique)
Jim Gower (IOS, Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
Photos: R. Roach, Ouanalao Studios, K. Orchard, M. Freeling, O. Reynoso
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