Montserrat Improves Management of Sargassum

Stakeholders in Montserrat took part in a virtual training  this week on Improving management of sargassum influxes.

The training was organized by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute and the University of the West Indies Center for Resource Management and Environmental Studies.

It was part of a project funded by the Darwin Initiative, which involves Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.

Severe sargassum influxes have become a recurrent event in the Eastern Caribbean, including in Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Montserrat.

Influxes in the three islands have resulted in biodiversity loss in coastal and marine ecosystems; health impacts; and socio-economic/livelihood impacts in the tourism, fisheries and marine transport sectors.

Impacts are directly felt in these sectors, including by fisherfolk, dive and tour operators and other community micro-enterprises, as well as by all coastal users, which for these tiny islands comprise the entire populations.

Research by UWI and the UNEP-Caribbean Environment Programme highlights that management of sargassum influxes is hampered by  inadequate local and scientific information on lessons and best practices for management and adaptation; poor forecasting and inadequate preparation; lack of guiding national policies or plans and poor coordination for effective responses; and inadequate access to funding to implement management and adaptation solutions.

A scoping study was conducted in Montserrat from January to May 2022.

The health impact reported were rashes and a strong smell of decaying sargassum on Marguerita Bay, near the village of  Lookout.

Fishers also experienced damage to engines, and a reduction in their catch.