Splash splash, water entering my lungs and this impending fear of death on my favourite beach. This was the beach our family would go to every Sunday to swim and play football. Now this beach is filled with sargassum seaweed and trash, mainly from our beach goers.
Saint Lucia’s iconic white sand beaches are being smothered by massive piles of sargassum seaweed, driving away tourists and crippling the island’s vital beach tourism industry. The influx of this smelly, brown algae is being fueled by climate change.
Rising ocean temperatures create nutrient-rich conditions that promote more sargassum growth. Meanwhile, stronger storms and shifting currents caused by climate change make the floating rafts of seaweed more prone to washing ashore in thick, rotting mats.
“The sargassum just keeps coming in larger quantities each year,” says marine biologist Mariette Lambert. “At this rate, it could devastate our tourism economy that relies on pristine beaches.”
Beyond its revolting odor and appearance, the piles of decomposing sargassum also impact the environment by sucking oxygen from nearshore waters and releasing toxic gasses.
As climate change worsens ocean warming and storm patterns, Saint Lucia faces an onslaught of sargassum that threatens its beautiful beaches and the businesses dependent on them. Without a global effort to stop climate change drivers, the vital tourism economies of the Caribbean could be washed away by rising tides of seaweed.
Here are some solutions of Saint Lucians capitalizing on sargassum seaweed as a resource.These solutions not only aim to reduce the negative impacts of sargassum on beaches but also to create valuable agricultural products.
Jenna Williams, a young innovator from Saint Lucia, is tackling the sargassum influx problem with a biomedical approach. Working with the Santa Rosa Junior College Chemistry Department, she’s developing prosthetic limbs from sargassum. Williams has successfully extracted alginate from dried sargassum and transformed it into a hydrogel, with plans to construct a prototype prosthetic arm. At just 17, she’s not only advancing this eco-sustainable solution for amputees, but also inspiring youth in her homeland. Williams has presented her research at schools in Saint Lucia, encouraging over 100 young people to consider innovative solutions to local environmental challenges.
Johanan Dujon founded the Caribbean’s first Indigenous agriculture biotech firm to fight invasive seaweed threatening the tourism-dependent economy. Algas Organics converts invasive plant species into organic fungicides, pesticides, and crop fertilizers. St. Lucia-based Algas has processed two million pounds of plants since 2015. Revenue could reach $2 million in 2020.