Research Projects

Sargassum : Research

CERMES research on sargassum covers a number of areas, including modelling and prediction of influxes, using drones and GIS to monitor and map influxes, the impact on fisheries, as well as the challenges and potential opportunities in managing sargassum influxes. We expect that new research and publications to be forthcoming as work advances.

We invite you to browse available publications and presentations below. If you refer to any of these in your work, we ask that you cite them appropriately.

Recent open access research papers

Free-swimming fauna associated with influxes of pelagic sargassum: implications for management and harvesting

A baseline assessment of the epiphytic community associated with pelagic sargassum in the Tropical Atlantic

Seasonal variation in morphotype composition of pelagic sargassum influx events is linked to oceanic origin

Review, Assimilation and Communication of the State of Knowledge

Challenges of managing sargassum influxes: A way forward

Sargassum: threat or opportunity for a Blue Economy?

Sargassum: Impacts and opportunities

The Tropical Atlantic Sargassum Story: 2011-2021

UWI Cave Hill Campus Sargassum Research Coordination Workshop Summary

Modelling and prediction of sargassum influxes (CC4FISH)

Summary report describing pelagic sargassum seaweed growth, abundance and mass transport within the North Equatorial Recirculation Region (NERR) and Eastern Caribbean for 2014 and 2015

Preliminary analysis report on the variables associated with the growth and arrival of pelagic sargassum in the eastern Caribbean using the HYCOM model

Preliminary report on the model predicting pelagic sargassum seaweed growth, abundance and mass transport within the North Equatorial Recirculation Region (NERR) and the Eastern Caribbean

Final Report on Prediction of Pelagic Sargassum Incursions: Model Development

Summary report on the development of a sub-regional sargassum outlook bulletin for the Eastern Caribbean

Using drones and GIS to monitor and map Sargassum

Since 2018, CERMES has been testing and comparing the use of ‘off-the-shelf’ recreational drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs) equipped with a RGB camera payload, together with drone flight planning mobile application and cloud-based photogrammetry mapping software, as a tool for rapidly monitoring and detecting sargassum remotely. Remote sensing and standard geospatial techniques were then leveraged to map, classify and quantify the abundance of stranded sargassum. Conventional transect and quadrat surveys were simultaneously conducted to validate results of the drone mapping methodology and geospatial analyses.

This research has been presented at the 39th Annual AMLC Meeting and GCFI72.

Application of drone technologies in quantifying stranded Sargassum

The work of SargAdapt will build on this research to mainstream the use of this approach of this technology for monitoring sargassum through the development of a standard monitoring protocol combined with strategic provision of resources and training in its application.

Sargassum and fisheries