Surfing on Sargassum is becoming a trend, but does it solve the problem?

The first Sarga Track is an app created by Samuel Fourmy, who lives in Martinique. It collects and collates all information on Sargassum (sightings, banks, strandings, quantity, frequency, danger, etc.). The aim of this participatory app is to foster a better-informed and better-coordinated Caribbean, where every citizen can contribute to the protection of the coastline. Thanks to photographic reports that are geolocated and dated, it is possible to track Sargassum in real time.

For a vibrant and connected coastline

Once the data has been collected, the patches are plotted on an interactive map that updates in real time according to the size of the banks near the shore and those still offshore. Indicators of their approach are defined, although this does not provide 100 per cent reliable certainty of stranding. Sarga Track also brings together all the essential information from various websites and sources, compiling it into a sufficiently comprehensive summary to enable all this data to be passed on to the relevant authorities, elected representatives and the various services responsible for taking effective action on the ground (https://sargatrack.com).
The second example follows on logically from this: after observation comes collection and processing. Sargawatt was founded in Martinique by Matthieu Bergot to address the challenge of collecting sargassum in large quantities, cost-effectively and in a way that respects ecosystems, thereby combining coastal protection with industrial utilisation. This approach therefore has a more commercial focus than the previous one and is aimed not only at local authorities and tourism organisations, but also at waste collection operators and potential industrial partners who could benefit from utilising this product.

Efficient collection

Indeed, this foul-smelling and toxic brown seaweed can become an accessible and usable biomass, provided one knows how to go about it. This is what Sargawatt offers to all local stakeholders, whether they are manufacturers, research laboratories or other project leaders seeking a reliable, traceable material suited to their processes (https://www.sargawatt.com/fr/)
We’ve come a long way from experiments involving making cardboard from dried seaweed in a kitchen, and there are many other projects that deserve credit for driving progress, even if they do nothing to solve the growing problem of the Sargassum invasion. The ball has always been in the court of the relevant local and national authorities, who prove year after year that they really struggle to return it.