Turning an ecological risk into an chance

As Atlantic beach locations brace for their annual onslaught of a strong-smelling seaweed, experts on a project led by the University of Southampton are sharing their study into how communities impacted can make use of this putrid problem—by turning it into a compost.

The group has also produced an early warning program so afflicted communities can put together.

Large rafts of sargassum seaweed are wreaking seasonal havoc on coastlines across the Tropical Atlantic. Millions of tons of sargassum—and increasing annually—are washing up on shorelines from Mexico to Africa, threatening fishing, tourism and ecosystems, such as turtles who cannot get on to the seashores to lay their eggs.

Until 2011, sargassum was contained to the Sargasso Sea, off the coast of Bermuda. Its spread south into hotter waters where it is flourishing was at first pushed by an unusual weather conditions celebration, but it is now pushed across the tropical Atlantic Ocean by winds, currents and changes in the Atlantic Meridional Mode (the way in which the ocean moves). Large rafts of the seaweed are visible from area, and 2023 is predicted to be a further severe year.

The Southampton-led investigation venture Sartrac (which collaborated with the College of York, the College of Ghana, and the College of the West Indies in Barbados and Jamaica) has discovered sustainable employs for the seaweed. These include as compost to help mangrove re-advancement and for increasing peppers and tomatoes.

The job crew has also established sources for schoolteachers in Ghana to assistance them with teaching the identification of sargassum and utilizes for it, and has set up an early warning technique for Jamaica, which it is hoped will be rolled out to west Africa. The system brings together geospatial and socio-economic information to recommend when and wherever sargassum will clean up, enabling communities to put together for clean-ups and to deal with its impact.

The academics included are coming together in Southampton this week to existing their conclusions to peers and policymakers.

Venture guide Emma Tompkins, Professor of Geography, Ecosystem and Improvement at the College of Southampton, explained, “When sargassum washes ashore, it can pile meters substantial and can be devastating. As it decomposes it stinks, can result in skin irritations and it provides off hydrogen sulfide that can lead to respiratory difficulties. It’s impacting fishermen’s capacity to fish, it can be influencing tourism, and it’s a trouble for ecosystems, significantly for turtles that go to lay their eggs on beach locations in the summer months when sargassum is at its worst.”

The undertaking staff has set up ways for the poorest persons influenced by sargassum to use it.

Professor Tompkins said, “Rather than industrial-scale assortment, we have looked at how sargassum can be utilised by coastal communities and compact-scale farmers. Productive takes advantage of incorporate supporting mangrove expansion, and as compost for rising peppers and tomatoes which are important crops for poorer communities.”