Challenges and Opportunities in Relation to Sargassum Events Along the Caribbean Sea

Abstract

Mass blooms and stranding of pelagic Sargassum spp. in the Atlantic, termed Sargassum events are becoming more frequent in response to several factors: nutrient enrichment, increased temperature, changes in climatological patterns, but some causes remain unknown. The magnitude of Sargassum events in the Caribbean Sea since 2011 make us aware of the necessity to tackle these events, and macroalgal blooms generally, not only locally but on a regional scale. At least three pelagic species of Sargassum have been dominant in the blooms that have occurred along Caribbean coastlines in great quantities. Due to the regional scale of these events and its complexity, its management should be based on basic and applied information generated by different collaborative actors (national and international) through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work. To address this, we propose different phases (exploratory, valorization, and management) and the approach for their study should include detection, collection, stabilization and experimentation. This information will help identify the potential applications and/or ecological services to develop for the exploitation and mitigation strategies in the region. Relevant challenges and opportunities are discussed, remarking on the necessity to evaluate the spatiotemporal variation in the abundance and chemical composition of floating and stranded biomass. The above-mentioned will provide management strategies and economic opportunities as possible solutions to their extensive impact in the Caribbean.

Sulfated Polysaccharides from Seaweed Strandings as Renewable Source for Potential Antivirals against Herpes simplex Virus 1

“…Thus, the potential of these SPs could be in the production of inexpensive oligosaccharides which can be used as topical creams for therapeutic use, since biomass can be easily found in nature. However, the use of biomass from strandings, according to Robledo et al [62], first, must be necessary to define technical and ecological measures to forecast an event, and so the authors propose a key strategy including exploratory, valorization, and management, which allow to identify the potential applications and/or ecological services to develop its exploitation and mitigation in a region and global scale. The authors highlight the importance of the variation in the abundance and chemical composition of stranded biomass.…”

Commercial Potential of Pelagic Sargassum spp. in Mexico

“…Recent reports (Oxenford et al, 2021;Robledo et al, 2021) have already highlighted the general challenges in the valorization, and industrialization of sargasso in the Caribbean. A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis helps to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to the commercialization of sargasso in Mexico (Figure 10).…”

“…The hypothetical commercial value of sargasso is becoming increasingly recognized, and many local communities throughout the Caribbean are becoming aware of its remarkable potential (Desrochers et al, 2020). Bioprospecting and subsequent commercialization of sargasso could potentially cover the costs of removing it near to the shore or on beaches, thereby mitigating their impacts on the environment (Silva et al, 2016;Chávez et al, 2020;Robledo et al, 2021;Thompson et al, 2021).…”

Seasonality and intra-thallus variation of the antioxidant capacity in beach cast holopelagic Sargassum from the Mexican Caribbean

“…Various extracts from Sargassum species have shown signi cant therapeutic potential, suggesting that Sargassum could provide novel functional ingredients for pharmaceuticals and the treatment and prevention of several disorders (Yende et al 2014). Although this genus also constitutes an essential habitat for other marine organisms, large accumulations of holopelagic Sargassum species in coastal areas generate several economic, environmental, and health impacts (Robledo et al 2021). Since late 2014, the Mexican Caribbean coast has periodically received exceptionally large quantities of two species of holopelagic Sargassum, Sargassum uitans (Børgesen) Børgesen and S. natans (Linnaeus) Gaillon, with several morphological variations (Vázquez-Delfín et al 2021).…”