The Sargassum Podcast

En este episodio, Omar Vázquez de Ocotlán, Jalisco, comparte detalles sobre su proyecto "Sargablock". Comenzó en 2018 en Puerto Morelos, donde, tras perder su trabajo con 300 empleados recolectando sargazo en las playas, ideó la creación de bloques de construcción a partir de este material. Estos bloques, con un 40- 60% de residuos orgánicos de sargazo, representan su visión para abordar el problema del sargazo y promover prácticas más sostenibles en la construcción.

Shownotes:

02:54 Presentación de nuestro host Omar Vásquez

03:45 Que es el Sargazo para Omar

05:55 Comienzos del proyecto utilizando el Sargazo como fertilizante

07:28 las inspiraciones y motivaciones de Omar para trabajar con Sargazo

11:10 Como este proyecto brindo oportunidades a muchas personas con problemáticas sociales

13:08 normas de construcción con Sargazo

15:20 Como fueron los comienzos de Sargablock

19:20 La primera casa creada con Sargazo

20:05 Proceso de la creación de los bloques de Sargazo y la donación de casas

22:00 Diseño de las casas construidas con Sargazo

25:25 Retos durante el proyecto a nivel nacional e internacional

28:25 Conformación de la empresa y el proceso de venta

30:30 Patente del proyecto

36:30 Proceso de recolección de Sargazo para mantener la producción de bloques

38:00 Respuesta de las personas que recibieron la donación de Sargazo

39:10 Integración de las comunidades en el proyecto

42:10 Pruebas de resistencia a las casas construidas con Sargazo

53:33 Pensamientos finales por Paola y Evelyn

El Sargassum Podcast es posible gracias a la financiación del Programa de Resiliencia, Energía Sostenible y Biodiversidad Marina (RESEMBID). Financiado por el 11º Programa Regional de los Países y Territorios de Ultramar del Caribe del Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo (FED), RESEMBID está siendo implementado por Expertise France, siendo los principales interesados los 12 Países y Territorios de Ultramar del Caribe.

links importantes:

Un nouvel épisode du podcast en français est publié ! Autour des sargasses se développent applications, méthodologies, recherches, dont le Sargassum podcast essaye de rendre compte ici, au fil des rencontres. Aujourd’hui, nous vous présentons un épisode enregistré il y a plus d’un an (en avril 2022) mais que nous n’avons pu éditer jusqu’à présent pour des raisons techniques. Le projet Sargowaze, vainqueur de l’Ocean Hackaton 2021 est pour l’instant en sommeil, mais nous avons pensé qu’il serait intéressant de diffuser tout-de- même cet épisode.

Le projet est né de la rencontre au Lakoudigital en Martinique à l’occasion de la préparation de l’Ocean Hackaton de personnes d’horizon différents : Mathis Fidelin, alors étudiant en management commercial (depuis 2022 en management touristique sur Paris) ; Aimée Marguerite, étudiante en commerce, bachelor en marketing et gestion ; Bruno Sainte-Rose, docteur en mécanique des fluides, responsable de la modélisation chez Clean Up ocean ; Gipsy Delleda, biologiste marine, chargée de mission à l’Assomer ; Sacha Arbonel, développeur en Informatique ; Aurélie Clorus, consultante en informatique

Sargowaze est conçu comme une application téléphonique participative destinée à identifier par photographies et géolocalisation les lieux du littoral impactées par les sargasses.  L’équipe de Sargowaze a identifié trois types d’utilisateurs : les touristes, les professionnels de la mer et du tourisme pour adapter les activités par rapport à cela, et les collectivités.

Nous vous tiendrons au courant de la reprise du projet. En attendant, cet épisode du podcast pourra vous renseigner sur sa conception.

In this episode, we delve into the current situation of Sargassum and its impact on Curaçao. Our guest, Luisa Flechas, a chemical engineer and business developer at the TNO Energy and Materials Transition Unit, shares her insights and involvement in the TNO Living Lab project, which aims to continue with a proposal to continue working with all the challenges with Sargassum.

01:34 Current situation of Sargassum by Fran

03:00  introducing our guest Luisa Flecha

04:10 What is Sargasso for Luisa

06:00 The involvement of TNO finding solutions to the Sargassum problem

07:07 How Luisa is contribute to Sargassum work

08:45 Luisas role on working in Curaçao

10:00 Stages of the project

13:25 Changing to biofuel in Curacao

15:44 Thoughts of Luisa of how Sargassum is affecting Curaçao

18:13 Next steps

22:00 Thoughts about the episode by Fran and Jenna

Relevant links:

In todays episode: Sabine and Jessica talk about the dynamic of the work in Bonaire, the importance of this area and how Sargassum are affecting its Marine Ecosystems Sabine Engel, raised on Curaçao, studied marine biology in Utrecht. Settled in Bonaire, she researches reefs and restores mangroves with STINAPA and Mangrove Maniacs. Jessica Johnson, from the US, shifted from Engineering to conservation. With a Master's from Universidade do Algarve, she directs Coastal Dynamics in Bonaire, focusing on seagrass and mangrove restoration.

03:50 Fran introducing our guests

05:47 What is Sargassum for Sabine

06:30 What is Sargassum for Jessica 

08:00 How Bonaire is impacted by Sargassum

10:36 The management evolved since the arrival of Sargassum in Bonaire and people through citizen science got involved

13:23 How does the Sargassum influx affect Lac Bay? 

15:13 Lac Bay is a very  culturally important 

16:55 When Sargassum enters, the mangrove starts to slowly die

19:11 How the net to capture Sargassum works 

21:10 The origin of the Sargassum that arrives in Bonaire 

22:00 An important concern: the Sargassum that arrives is enriched in heavy metals 

23:00 The Morphotypes and composition that arrive 

25:50 How the seagrass is affected by Sargassum

28:55 The work of the mangrove maniacs

31:00 The consultancy work of Coastal Dynamics

34:55 The Tropical Restoration Network: Workshops along the Caribbean  

42:12 Thoughts about the episode by Fran, Jenna, and Pao

The Sargassum Podcast is made possible through funding by the Resilience, Sustainable Energy, and Marine Biodiversity Programme (RESEMBID). Financed under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories Regional Programme, RESEMBID is being implemented by Expertise France, with the primary stakeholders being the 12 Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories.

Relevant links:

Mangrove Maniacs:

From September 2022-Februrary, 2023, a multidisciplinary team of stakeholders in Montserrat comprised of government and civil society representatives was trained in the use of unmanned aerial systems (drones) for participatory monitoring and management of Sargassum.

In this episode we interviewed Yasa and Lavern. Yasa is the project manager for the Sustainable sargassum management in Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Montserrat’ project. Mrs. Lavern Ryan is passionate about the use and application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). She has been working in the field of GIS for almost 20 years.

01:00 Introducing the guests

03:50 what is Sargassum for our guests

05:40 How are people in Montserrat affected by Sargassum

07:20 Handleding Sargassum in Monserrat

08:15 Sargassum on the beach

09:05 Implementation of the Sargassum Management Plans

10:00 Steps of the training for the plan management implementation

12:30 Talking of the plan strategies

16:30 Strategies to storage the Sargassum

22:00 Organization of workshops held in Montserrat

23:40 Training local people in Monserrat

27:00 highlighting the current situation of Sargassum in the islands

28:25 important tools to manage Sargassum

29:50 The use of drones to monitoring Sargassum

38:00 Evelyn and Jenna's thoughts as hosts in this interview

The Sargassum Podcast is made possible through funding by the Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Marine Biodiversity Programme (RESEMBID). Financed under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories Regional Programme, RESEMBID is being implemented by Expertise France, with the primary stakeholders being the 12 Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories.

Relevant links

In this Episode Joseph Montoya and Harshini Vummadi join us to talk about the understanding of the high biomass of Sargassum and their impacts on the open oceans and coastal communities. Also, Harshini explains us her research using Sargassum to purify water.

Joseph Montoya is professor in the School of Biological Sciences and director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Ocean Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. Harshini Vummadi is an undergraduate student at Georgia Tech. She is a 3rd year biology major whose research has been focused on Sargassum and its applications as a bioremediate.

2:00 Presenting the guest

2:56 What is Sargassum for Harshini

3:40 What is Sargassum for Joseph

6:00 The capacity of Sargassum up taking heavy metals

6:25 Harshini talks about how use Sargassum in purifying water

7:05 Current situation of Sargassum in Dominican Republic

8:30 impacts in the tourism industry

10:20 Applying purifying water solutions with Sargassum in Dominican Republic

11:30 The more impacted moments by Sargassum in Dominican Republic

12:35 Hows the experience working with interdisciplinary researchers for Joseph

19:40 Hows the experience working with interdisciplinary researchers for Harshini

21:30 The develop of Harshini research

26:39 Fran, Evelyn, and Jenna's thoughts as hosts in this interview

Sigrid Skjelstad has a Masters in materials science from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and works as business developer at Orkel AS. During her studies she spent a year at University in Cape Town as an exchange student. Orkel is a developer and manufacturer of agricultural and industrial machinery based in Norway. They recently used their machines to make Sargassum bales.

0:53 The host saying hello to each other. 

3:56 Franziska presents the guest. 

5:13 The starting question! What is Sargassum for Sigrid?

9:00 What are the benefits of bailing Sargassum?

  11:48 Why Sargassum can preserve better in a bale?

13:23 Will this technology come to the Caribbean? 

 14:59 Testing experiment  

17:31 Hidrated Sargassum and bailing? 

 21:53 Fresh Sargassum is more easy to bale. 

23:30 How Sigrid was introduce to Sargassum? 

 27:07 Description of the baling machines. 

30:55 Is there a process before baling?

 33:21 And what about the sand that is in the Sargassum, when beached? 

34:39 How fresh does the Sargassum have to be so it can be baled? 

36:48 Orkel is working with recycled plastic for baling 

39:08 Buy a machine or rent it from you?

 40:32 Need of local knowledge in the Caribbean.

 41:24 Thanking Sigrid.

 43:10 Conclusions of the hosts

Mark Yokoyama is a naturalist, author and wildlife educator living in St. Martin who has published many books about the nature and culture of St. Martin. He is also the co-founder and treasurer of the non profit association Les Fruits de Mer. Their core mission is to collect and share knowledge about local nature and heritage. They run a museum called Amuseum Naturalis which is a free museum on nature, heritage and culture in St. Martin. They distribute free books about local subjects to students and schools on the island.  

0:00 Introduction 

2:18 Guest introduction 

3:10 What is Sargassum to Mark? 

4:30 Impact of Sargassum on St. Martin 

5:56 Management of Sargassum on St. Martin an island with two governments- lots of groups involved and lots of coordination needed 

9:00 How he got all the great pictures and content for his new book Suddenly Sargassum  

11:40 The books will go to schools and stakeholders and a display was made in the Les Fruits de Mer museum. It will get kids interested in science and provide locally relevant educational material in both English and French 

15:55 Offical school language in St. Martin is French but most kids are primarly English speakers 

18:55 What does a naturalist, author and wildlife educators do? 

23:10 Debrief  

Learn more about Mark Yokoyama and his work:   

Eduardo Gabriel Torres Conde actualmente es un estudiante de Doctorado del posgrado de ciencias biológicas de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México en el Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología. Se graduó como biólogo en la Universidad de la Habana en Cuba y posteriormente hizo una maestría en Biología Marina y Acuicultura con mención en Ecología Marina. Como parte de su proyecto de doctorado trabaja en la restauración de las praderas de pastos marinos que han sido afectadas por las mareas marrones de Sargassum spp.  a las costas del Caribe mexicano.  

 2:44 Reseña de Eduardo Torres Conde  

4:40 Eduardo explica que es el sargazo para el 

7:59 ¿Cuándo fue la primera vez que se reportó el arribo de Sargazo a Cuba? 

10:21 ¿En qué consisten los trabajos espacio temporales de sargazo? 

11:44 Zara comenta las condiciones del sargazo en la isla de Roatán 

12:25 Paola comenta la llegada del sargazo en Honduras y Costa Rica  

12:47 Eduardo opina de que depende la llegada del sargazo a ciertas playas  

13:14 Índice de oscilación del Ártico 

13:53 Vientos alisios 

17:01 Evelyn comenta en cuanto a usar organismos como indicadores del cambio climático   

17:46 ¿Quién es Physalia physalis?  

20:02 ¿Cómo relacionas el arribo de sargazo a Cuba con Physalia physalis en tu trabajo publicado? 

25:36 El timón de Physalia physalis 

26:52 Avistamientos de Physalia physalis y sargazo  

28:33 Zara comenta algunos impactos del sargazo en Roatán 

29:56 ¿Cómo ha afectado el sargazo a los pastos marinos en donde realizas tu trabajo de doctorado? 

33:47 Lo que más le ha llamado la atención del sargazo a Eduardo  

40:07  ¿Que se puede hacer para iniciar un estudio espacio temporal en donde apenas está llegando sargazo? 

44:34 ¿Cómo entender en qué lugares si llega sargazo y cuáles no? 

45:59 ¿Qué falta por hacer? coordinar monitoreos-homogeneizar datos 

49:58 Que aprendieron las Hosts   

Si quieres saber más sobre el trabajo de Eduardo:  

Judith Rosellon is a biologist and oceanographer with extensive experience in fisheries management and ecology, marine spatial management, evaluation of marine protected areas, and fisheries stock assessment. She has a Ph.D. from the School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at UMass Dartmouth and worked as a Postdoctoral fellow at the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). She is currently a lead researcher at the National Council for Science and Technology or CONACYT (Consejo National de Ciencia y Tecnología). Her international background, and oceanographic studies both in Mexico and USA make it possible for her to understand, develop, and coordinate complex marine co-management and policy projects between US and Latin American countries.   

Justin Suca is a  fish ecologist at the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. His research includes studies on the diet and growth of fish, but he typically focuses on understanding and predicting the distribution and abundance of fisheries-relevant species. He got involved with this project because he grew up in Florida and had experienced sargassum inundation in his high school and college years. It also provided an opportunity to connect with the fishing communities he grew up around.   

Laura McAdam-Otto is an anthropologist at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Her work focuses on governance practices in the field of both forced migration and anthropogenic environmental change. Her research and teaching are located at the interface of anthropology, cultural studies, science, and technology studies.    Together as a team, they worked on the project  "Binational local knowledge of Sargassum events" which was supported by the US Department of State through the "Partners of the Americas" grant program. The objective of this project in particular was to document local knowledge of coastal communities of Mexico (Quintana Roo) and the US (Florida) regarding atypical influxes of Sargassum.   

Listen to the episode to learn about:  
0:31 - Introduction of the guests
5:13 - What’s Sargassum to you?
9:32 - Project and activities from guests  
27:58 - As the Sargassum problem is inter-regional and at the same time often territory-specific, have you extended your research beyond Mexico and Florida, to other territories in the Caribbean or have you had exchanges with inhabitants or scientists or politicians from other places affected by Sargassum?
39:16 - Sargassum flyer in Maya
43:15 - Methodology: social science research  
1:04:00 - Justin’s fieldwork experience
1:06:46 - Social Injustice and Environmental Injustice Association with Sargassum  

To get to know more about our guests:  

La llegada masiva de Sargazo flotante al Caribe de Centroamérica es un evento relativamente nuevo. Y el papel de las personas de la comunidad es un punto clave para comenzar los inicios del manejo de este fenómeno. Don José es pescador artesanal miembro de la Asociación de Pescadores del Caribe Sur de Costa Rica. Es co-director del proyecto regional para manejo y control del pez león ha logrado ser parte de la creación y publicación del protocolo para el manejo óptimo de pez león en conjunto con otros países como México, Panamá, Colombia y Belice. Ha participado en la escritura de artículos para revistas internacionales y actualmente es parte del consejo de áreas de conservación del caribe en el tema del manejo y prevención del sargazo.  

Entrevistamos a Jose para que nos contara más sobre su papel como miembro de la comunidad y parte del consejo sobre la situación actual de la llegada masiva de Sargazo a Costa Rica.  

Rolando Chavez Penaherrera is the Latin American General manager for the Enviro-Clean segments of DESMI and Head of DESMI SEAWEED Division.DESMI is Danish manufacturer of pumps, pumping systems, environmental cleaning equipment and related products and services, Founded in 1834 and headquartered in Denmark, DESMI provides pumping solutions to end-markets including marine and offshore, industrial, utility, and defense and fuel. The company also provides environmental solutions for oil spill response, seaweed collection and cleaning waterways. Next to managing oil spills they also started in 2014 designing products for Sargassum management.   

Listen to the episode to learn about:   

1:31 : Presentation of Rolando  

2:20 : Localization of the office 

2:46 : What is sargassum to Rolando 

4:26 : How Desmi decided to make a barrier of sargassum 

10:07 : How do the barriers work 

12:24 : Type of anchors used for the boom 

14:24 : Wave resistance of the boom 

17:04 : How to remove the boom and the time needed for it 

20:17 : Transfer systems used to remove sargassum from the water 

24:36 : How to avoid bycatch  

26:35 : Who are the customers buying the barriers 

28:09 : Three years of testing needed before using the boom for cleaning public beaches : proven technology  

29:10 : Future projects related to sargassum : how to always improve removal capacity 

38:08 : Environmental approval  

35:10 : Debriefs  

Learn more about Rolando:   

Bethia Thomas is currently a postgraduate student at CERMES pursuing a PhD in Natural Resource Management. Her research seeks to venture into the novel territory of pelagic sargassum with special emphasis on a community-based participatory approach to vulnerability analysis and adaptation planning for pelagic sargassum influxes in the Eastern Caribbean, using the island of Saint Lucia as a case study.  Bethia joined us to talk about how sargassum impacts island communities in the Caribbean.  

3:51 - What is sargassum to Bethia? 

6:31 - How are the communities Bethia researches being impacted by sargassum? 

11:50 - How has sargassum impacted fish populations around the communities? 14:00 - What kinds of solutions would people like to see regarding sargassum? 

17:30 - What hurdles would make it hard to implement these solutions? 

19:30 - What kinds of people did Bethia interview for her research? 

24:00 - What else is Bethia working on? 

30:07 - The wind-down  

Watch the videos Bethia made together with the local communities 

3’11 : La sargasse, un objet de recherche et de coopération

6’11 : Genèse, déroulement et partenaires du projet Sarg’coop

9’36 : 1erwork-package : état de la connaissance et organisation de la conférence internationale sur les sargasses en 2019 en Guadeloupe

12’37 : 2ème WP : télédétection et projet d’établissement d’un réseau caribéen pour les mesures de l’air

17’06 : 3èmeWP : communication au public avec la création d’une plateforme digitale

19’39 : 4èmeWP : les actions d’internationalisation

21’40 : Sur la Convention de Carthagène et les évolutions des stratégies des politiques environnementales

24’55 : Livre blanc sur les sargasses, enjeux et stratégies à mettre en œuvre

27’05 : Doter les sargasses d’un statut juridique international

28’30 : Partages d’expertise sur les mesures de qualité de l’air

29’03 : Articulation du local au global dans les politiques publiques

36’30 : Diffusion des résultats pour le grand public sur la plateforme digitale

39’05 : Intérêt des jeunes générations pour les problématiques environnementales

43’02 : Représentation des femmes dans la recherche environnementale

45’36 : Annonce finale

Pour en savoir plus :

Sargassum beaching events have become an international challenge that requires globally-cooperative solutions. With such pressing challenges, thankfully, come incredibly innovative solutions to sargassum overproduction and decay.  Due to climate change, there is more and more sargassum on shores, which creates trouble for marine ecosystems and coastal communities. Our guests today work to turn that issue into agricultural opportunities for localized communities.  Today, we talk to Daria Parshina and Nina Bangert, who is part of Seasoilution, a social entrepreneur initiative that turns sargassum into fertilizer.

Since 2011, vast masses of the free-floating algae Sargassum have been washing ashore on Caribbean beaches – some leaving coastlines three-feet deep in seaweed. When it isn't rotting on beaches, Sargassum has incredible properties and could fuel an entire new blue economy. The Sargassum Podcast aims to cure marine science blindness by providing listeners with an in-depth look into how sargassum impacts local communities, coastal biomes, and the world at large – and how we can harvest it to build a diversified blue economy.  

Join us today as we talk to Dr. Shelly-Ann Cox, an experienced ocean professional and fisheries management specialist. She holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management from the UWI Cave Hill Campus, and a BSc (Hons) in Environmental and Natural Resource Management with Marine Biology from the UWI St. Augustine Campus. Shelly-Ann has ten years’ experience in applied interdisciplinary climate-related research and fisheries management research.  

Listen to The Sargassum Podcast's latest episode to hear about:  

-Introduction to Shelly-Ann Cox: 2:14

-What sargassum means for Shelly-Ann and her community: 3:40

-The impact of sargassum on dolphinfish and flying fish landings: 7:30

-Sustainable fishing, marine catching, and marine reproduction cycles: 10:30

-Fishers, sargassum, and creating tracking mechanisms for sargassum drift: 11:15

-Blue Shell Productions and fisheries management consulting: 18:10

-Blue guerrilla marketing and blue weddings: 22:55

-Offsetting carbon emissions with blue-conscious events: 29:07

-Wrap-up and debrief: 35:00 

And from our team, welcome to #SargassumSeason2!  

Learn more about Dr. Shelly-Ann Cox: 

Dr. Denise Herzing is the Founder and Research Director of the Wild Dolphin Project and has studied Atlantic spotted dolphins in the Bahamian waters for over 35 years. In addition to many scientific articles, she is the co-editor of Dolphin Communication and Cognition, author of “Dolphin Diaries: My 25 years with Spotted Dolphins in the Bahamas” and “The Wild Dolphin Project (2002)”.

Cassie Rusche spends her summers living on a boat in the Bahamas studying wild dolphins. But 10 years ago, she thought she’d be working as a pharmacist. She started University as a pre-pharmacy student. However, after just a few short months of school and working in a pharmacy, she realized it was not for her. Eventually she discovered her real passion for understanding animal behavior. So, she switched to the ecology/evolution/organismal biology concentration and has been working for the Wild Dolphin Project since her graduation.

Wild Dolphin Project is the world’s longest running underwater study of dolphins in the world. Since 1985, the team has spent months out at sea every summer, living on boats and studying two species of dolphins that live on the shallow sandbanks of the Bahamas: Atlantic spotted dolphins and Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. Researchers have made many discoveries over the years regarding aspects of social structure, paternity, habitat use, behavior, communication, and movement patterns.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

• Introduction (2:39)
• What sargassum is to Dr. Denise and Cassie (4:59)
• How dolphins use sargassum (5:51)
• How dependent dolphins are on sargassum (8:45)
• Do dolphins use sargassum to clean themselves (10:15)
• Do the hydroids in sargassum cause irritation to dolphins like they do to humans (11:28)
• Studying dolphins in the wild vs captivity (12:15)
• Challenges of studying dolphins in the wild (15:11)
• Are dolphins bothered by the drones used to conduct observation and research (18:04)
• Time span and experiences on research trips (19:42)
• Dolphin behavior (22:04)
• Reproductive activity (27:10)
• Most memorable moments in the field (30:28)
• Debrief (36:22)

Dr. Rick Lumpkin is the Director of the Physical Oceanography Division of the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) research laboratory in Miami, FL: the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML). Dr. Lumpkin’s research focuses on upper ocean processes and ocean circulation. As Principal Investigator of AOML’s component of NOAA’s Global Drifter Program (GDP), he oversees a global array of ~1300 satellite-tracked drifting buoys. He also helped design ocean currents displays in the Sant Ocean Hall of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

• Introduction (3:44)
• What sargassum is to Dr. Rick Lumpkin (5:26)
• How the sargassum belt was established (8:12)
• Nutrients fueling sargassum blooms (12:32)
• Upwelling in the equatorial Atlantic (15:15)
• Explanation of methods and data used (16:56)
• Seasonality of sargassum influx (24:14)
• Permanence of the tropical Atlantic sargassum belt (26:55)
• Predictions of climate change (29:36)
• Possibility of a current that can remove sargassum (32:32)
• Debrief (36:54)

Courtney Gallaher is a jointly appointed associate professor in the Department of Geographic and Atmospheric Sciences and the Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Northern Illinois University. Her fields of studies include Women in science, Sustainable agriculture and food systems and Environmental management and sustainability.

Emely Hernandez is a master’s student in Geographic and Atmospheric Sciences at Northern Illinois University who researches how tourism impacts water quality in Quintana Roo Mexico. She also does some work in the field of environmental sustainability and is an advocate for advancing minorities in STEM.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

• Introduction (5:44)
• What sargassum is to Courtney and Emely (7:15)
• How tourists in Quintana Roo react to sargassum (10:04)
• What cenotes are (12:24)
• Anthropogenic impacts on the cenotes (16:35)
• Contaminates in groundwater (19:25)
• Tourism and water quality in the cenotes (22:45)
• Tourism’s vs sargassum’s contamination effects (27:12)
• Suggestions to reduce tourism’s effect on groundwater quality (29:50)
• Women and minorities in STEM (33:58)
• Debrief (44:17)

VictorDavid est docteur en droit de l’environnement. Il est chargé de recherche à l’IRD (Institut de recherche pour le développement), et en poste actuellement au Campus Agro Environnemental Caraïbe en Martinique. Il est affilié à l’Unité Mixte de recherche SENS (Savoirs Environnement Sociétés) et collabore avec le LC2S (Laboratoire caribéen des sciences sociales) de l’université des Antilles.

Victor David nous présente le projet CESAR dont un des volets est l'étude des enjeux du droit de l'environnement appliqué aux sargasses au niveau du bassin caribéen.

Nous avons abordé avec lui le problème du statut juridique fluctuant de la sargasse. Nous avons également parlé de l’hypothèse du changement global pour la prolifération des sargasses et d’une responsabilité qui pourrait être commune mais différenciée, ainsi que des différences en droit de l’environnement entre la Nouvelle Calédonie, où Victor David a vécu et travaillé, et la Martinique, où il habite depuis 2019.

Ard Vreugdenhill is storyteller and conservationist with Nature Connecting, an NGO.  He just finished working in Barbados. Before that, he worked for over five years for Sea Turtle Conservation in Curacao. Julieta Castro is a volunteer for Sea Turtle Conservation in Curacao and is 15 years old, our youngest podcast guest so far.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

• Intern introduction (0:39)
• Episode transcripts (0:57)
• Guest introductions (3:11)
• What sargassum is to Ard and Julietta (4:36)
• 2021 sargassum season in Curacao (7:30)
• Sea turtle conservation and sargassum management (9:28)
• Rescuing sea turtles from sargassum (11:53)
• Building a rescue team (15:40)
• Number of turtles that were rescued (17:00)
• What it looks like when a turtle is rescued (18:58)
• What happens after rescue (22:48)
• First aid for the turtles (25:17
• Feeding the turtles in the aquarium (29:30)
• Rescue and COVID (33:32)
• Julietta’s media presence (35:26)
• Sea Turtle Conservation Curacao (40:39)
• Nature Connecting NGO (44:34)
• What’s next for Julietta (47:32)
• Debrief (51:17)

Lindsay Martin is an Ocean Policy Specialist at the National Science Foundation (NSF) who is passionate about combining research with education. She has quite literally sailed around the world and is working to make research more equitable and accessible.

Amy Siuda is an Associate Professor of Marine Science at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida and former Professor and Chief Scientist at Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. She is a marine ecologist and biological oceanographer whose research interests span marine plankton ecology from organismal to population and community levels.

Lindsay and Amy just published a paper on the motile animals found on different types of pelagic Sargassum.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

• Introductions (3:08)
• What sargassum is to Amy and Lindsay (4:28)
• Animals in sargassum (7:50)
• Collection and analysis methods (13:42)
• Sample sizes (17:11)
• Sargassum morphotypes and the habitats they create (21:18)
• Herbivores and sargassum consumption (34:31)
• Changes in the tropical Atlantic and effects on the food web (38:14)
• Sargassum samples from different locations (44:44)
• Sea Education Association experiences (47:10)
• Debrief (51:50)

Ute Marx is Professor of Medical Engineering at Pforzheim University, but she has spent some of her research time in Brisbane Australia. Her teaching focuses on the subjects of technical sales and marketing, as well as natural science subjects such as molecular biophysics and metabonomics. Her research activities focus, among other things, on the question of how metabolic products in body fluids can provide information about the course of diseases and the success of therapies. Her interest in algae research started in 2005 studying the metabolism of H2 producing algae.

John Roles is a research fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland, Australia. Together with Professor Ben Hankamer he researches the economic potential of algae generated products. He has over 35 years of experience in the design and construction of energy projects including power generation and renewable fuels. His PhD was directed at the generation of the TELCA platform for economic and environmental assessment of renewable fuel production.

Professor Ben Hankamer is from the University of Queensland. He is the group leader of Bioinspired design of solar biotechnology systems lab group and the Director of the Centre for Solar Biotechnology, as well as the founding director of the Solar Biofuels Consortium. The Centre for Solar Biotechnology focuses on developing next generation microalgae systems tapping into the huge energy resource of the sun capturing CO2 to produce a wide range of products.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

• Introduction (2:35)
• What sargassum is to Ute and John (5:05)
• How Ute and John began working with sargassum (8:29)
• Solar biotech (14:20)
• Making crude oil (16:46)
• Using sargassum vs land-based algae (18:37)
• Biotech locations (22:41)
• Base case scenario and number estimates of operation (26:07)
• Future plans and turning theory into reality (38:07)
• Additional comments from Ute and John (43:19)
• Debrief (45:45)

Professor Kwasi Appeaning Addo is a coastal processes specialist with vast experience in the West Africa coastal region. He is the Director of the Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies (IESS) in the University of Ghana. Recently he has focused his research on developing an integrated approach to sustainable port development, which embraces the three perspectives of engineering, ecosystem services, and governance, as well as sargassum in West Africa. He is a member of the Expert Group of High-Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy, who provide advice to the High-Level Panel of 13 Heads of Governments.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

• Introduction (3:10)
• What sargassum is to Professor Kwasi (4:10)
• Sargassum in Ghana (5:42)
• Health impacts of the sargassum in Ghana (9:46)
• SARTRAC (10:45)
• Professor Kwasi’s role in SARTRAC (13:46)
• Why a Sargassum Network is needed (16:50)
• Setting up a Sargassum Network (22:09)
• Climate change in Ghana (24:50)
• Projects to mitigate the effects of climate change in Ghana (29:16)
• Debrief (34:10)

Sargassum Podcast Episode 33: A Different Kind of Invasion - Panel on Sargassum horneri in California 

Our panel of guests today are:   

Melissa Hanson  
Melissa is the Co-Founder of Kelpful, a wild harvested seaweed company based in the Central Coast of California.  

֍ Learn more about Kelpful here: 

https://www.kelpful.com/  

Dr. Emily Ryznar
Emily recently received her Ph.D. in Biology from UCLA and is currently serving as a California Sea Grant State Fellow.   

֍ You can find more information about Dr. Ryznar's work here: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-ryznar-ph-d-aa47b349/
https://caseagrant.ucsd.edu/profile/emily-ryznar
https://sites.lifesci.ucla.edu/eeb-fonglab/current-graduate-students/
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2745.13509  

Lauren Smith
Lauren is a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA in Dr. Peggy Fong's lab. She is researching invasive Sargassum horneri in Southern California.  

֍ You can find out more about Lauren’s work here: 

https://dornsife-blogs.usc.edu/wrigley/?p=2219
https://smbasblog.com/2020/11/10/seaweed-faceoff-devil-weed-vs-giant-kelp-zoom-evening-meeting-reminder-tuesday-10-november-730-p-m-3/  

Dr. Lindsay Marks-Orsini  
Lindsay is a marine scientist who studied sargassum for her Ph.D. research. She now works for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife managing invertebrate fisheries.  

֍ You can find out more about Dr. Marks-Orsini’s work here:
https://marine.ucsc.edu/data-products/invasive-species/
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8rh799jz https://caseagrant.ucsd.edu/blogs/lindsay-marks-making-connections https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/feb18/underwater-landscaping-foster-scholar-lindsay-marks-removes-invasive-seaweed.html  

Sarah Mastroni
Sarah is a graduate student in UCSC's Coastal Science and Policy program where she is working to incorporate algae in cows' diets to decrease their methane emissions.  

֍ To find out more:
https://www.blueoceanbarns.com/   

֍ Listen to the episode to hear about:  

Introduction (0:00) 

Guest introductions ( )
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Henrique Ramos is the CEO of SeaExpert, which is a fisheries services and consultancy firm. He developed several aquaculture projects through SeaExpert, as an algae harvesting operation for the cosmetics biotech industry, as well as contributing to the world’s science on animal feed and production, leading to the Azores exporting high quality products abroad. Within SeaExpert, Henrique is also responsible for managing several fisheries observer programmes for the Portuguese fleet operating throughout the world, for monitoring and scientific purposes.  Henrique also works independently as a sustainability consultant for Green Destinations and SustainAzores. As an active member of No More Plastics for the Azores, he raises awareness of the increasing problem of marine debris, particularly plastics’ destructive effects on marine life and ecosystems.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

• Introduction (2:20)
• Climate change in the Azores (4:06)
• SeaFields (6:37)
• What sargassum means to Henrique (7:18)
• What the Azores are and where they are located (9:42)
• Sargassum in the Azores (12:33)
• Seaweed production (17:16)
• Species of algae used for harvesting (23:20)
• Promotion of algae products and sustainability models (28:26)
• Aquaculture (32:30)
• Debrief (57:59)

Le samedi 14 août, un tremblement de terre de magnitude 7,2 a frappé Haïti, suivi lundi par la tempête tropicale Grace. Cette catastrophe a fait de nombreux morts, blessés et sans-abri. Nous avons parlé à Marc Edouin Juste de la situation en Haïti et de la façon dont nous et vous pouvez aider. Nous vous invitons à écouter et à envisager de donner des biens ou de l'argent pour les personnes touchées. Nous avons indiqué ci-dessous comment envoyer des fonds à la Fédération de Marc. Chaque petite chose compte.

Marc-Edouin Juste est un entrepreneur social et le président fondateur de la Fédération Haitienne de la Peche Sportive en Mer. Il habite en port-au-prince.

- La paypal de Federation Haitienne de la Peche Sportive en mer: https://paypal.me/fhpsmhaiti?locale.x=fr_XC

-faire un don par l'intermédiaire d'un ami de Marc en France, y compris une réduction d'impôt de 75

Our guest today is James Ellsmoor, who is the Founder and Director of Island Innovation, which connects rural and island locations around the world working on similar development issues. Island Innovation began with a newsletter and a series of virtual events, and has evolved into a community of over 127,000 members. He is also the co-founder of Solar Head of State, which works with governments to push action on renewable energy. The NGO has focused on small island developing states (SIDS) with solar installations on the Office of the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Government House in Saint Lucia and the Presidential Palace of the Maldives. SHOS is now working with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and the Pacific Island Development Forum to install solar on the official residences across these organizations’ combined 24 member states. James has a master’s degree in “Island Studies” from the University of the Highlands and Islands and is a true expert on sustainability on islands.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

- Introduction of our summer intern Eloise (0:50)

- How Franziska got involved with Island Innovation (2:17)

- Introduction of James Ellsmoor (3:40)

- What sargassum means to James (5:14)

- What an island is and what it means to be an islander (7:35)

- Common challenges of island life (8:33)

- How islands drive innovation (9:25)

- Advantages of island life (12:18)

- Political implications of being an island community (16:56)

- Viewing sargassum as an opportunity (23:08)

- What Island Innovation is (25.38)

- Getting involved (26:36)

- Community discussions around sargassum (28:30)

- Island Innovation Summit (30:36)

- Debrief (33:51)

Dr. Tom Linton is an emeritus professor at Texas A&M. Tom has  studied the impacts of Sargassum on Gulf Coast beaches for decades and  was also involved in the development of the predictive model for  forecasting Sargassum landings. Brandon Hill is a coastal resources  manager for the City of Galveston and has previously worked as director  of the shoreline department of the city of South Padre Island and as  Sargassum Early Advisory System Project Manager at Texas A&M  University.Together they have developed a hay bale-style collection  method to bale Sargassum and use it as natural dune-building support.

- Intros (2:15)

- What is Sargassum to Brandon and Tom? (3:30)

- Captain Robert Webster’s work Part I (4:30)

- Historical accounts of Sargassum in Galveston Newspaper 1842 to 2018 (5:08)

- Project was ready to get rolling and there has not been any Sargassum since 2018! (5:50)

- Doing science under the veil of tourism (6:10)

- Finding out that Sargassum travelled through the Mona channel (8:00)

- Discovery of Sargassum’s cyclical history (13:00)

- Confederate soldiers hiding in Sargassum from the Union troops (14:10)

-  Post-Depression Era ‘New Deal’ Sargassum out to sea (15:08)

- Sargassum has always been a part of Texas (16:40)

- What is the Sargassum Early Advisory System (18:25)

- All about MacGyver Science! No fancy equipment (20:15)

- How they were using the LandSAT  Data (20:42)

- Sargassum grows well in nutrient-rich waters (22:36)

- There is a wide-spread benefit/need for this system (23:05)

- Captain Robert Webster’s work Part II (24:35)

- Bailing Sargassum for dune restoration (26:00)

- In Texas you were not allowed to remove Sargassum from the beach (32:16)

- The idea of baling Sargassum (34:35)

- Towns people were divided on Sargassum (37:10)

- Using fresh or dry Sargassum and why fresh is better (39:10)

- Physical and chemical properties of Sargassum (43:15)

- From hip deep Sargassum in 2018 to none at all after (45:50)

- Can bales be used for anything else than dune restoration ?(47:50)

- Concept of the Sargassum baling system (51:40)

- Working with local organizations such as the City of Galveston and the Park board (52:02)

- Sargassum as a carbon sink & what will the effects be (56:26)

- What can Sargassum as an ecosystem teach us(59:50)

- Interactive beach walks & the bucket brigade! (65:00)

- Sargassum is part of the beach (66:30)

Dr. Legena Henry is an MIT graduate, and a Mechanical Engineer, who is now the Lecturer for Renewable Energy at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, specializing in Renewable Energy and Applied Mechanics. She researches sustainable energy sources in the Caribbean, such as bio-fuel from Sargassum seaweed, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, and wave energy.

Listen to the episode to learn about:

Intro (2:30)

What Does Sargassum mean to Legena? (3:39)

Barbados 100% Fossil Free by 2030! (3:48)

Effect Sargassum has on Tourism in Barbados (4:51)

Thoughts on renewable energy sources (6:10)

Tourism, sargassum removal and placement into landfills and Hydrogen Sulfate gas (9:00) Success in Barbados of creating sargassum biofuel (10:52)

How much water does it really take to make 1 bottle of rum and how much is wasted? (11:56) How you can help save the planet by drinking premium Caribbean rum - Part I (14:45)

Ratio between wastewater and solids to make methane for fuel (16:54)

Historical cane industry in Barbados (18:20)

Why you should drink premium Caribbean rum – Part II (19:36)

Why not cane for fuel? (20:00)

Can we make rum from sargassum though? (20:55)

Scaling up this as a solution (22:45)

The micro digesters being used to create this project and how they are scaled-up (25:50)

100K USD grant received at the UN General Assembly for this amazing work! (26:50)

What is the scale-up going to look like? (27:50)

What happens to the waste from this process? (28:27)

Is this sargassum methane biofuel the best option for Barbados right now? If so, why? (31:25) Renewable energy options for Barbados (32:35)

Benefits of using fresh sargassum materials (34:00)

Closing (35:00)

Wrap-Up (35:45)

Outro (39:56)

Florence Ménez est titulaire d’un PhD en anthropologie culturelle et sociale (EHESS, Paris) et d’un PhD en Histoire sociale européenne contemporaine (Université Ca’Foscari, Venise). Elle est coordinatrice du projet de recherche-action SaRiMed (2021-2023), concernant les impacts sanitaires des sargasses en Martinique et à Marie-Galante (Antilles françaises). SaRiMed est financé par la Fondation de France et réunit des chercheur.e.s en sciences sociales de l’UMR AMURE, ainsi que de l’UMR LC2S et de l’EA AIHP-GEODE de l’université des Antilles, des médecins du CHU de Martinique, des membres de la société civile et des artistes.

Présentation (0:45)

La sargasse perturbation et lien, qui échappe à la société, symbolisée en un écheveau d’où partent des fils thématiques définissant autant d’enjeux, ou bien symbolisée en boîte de Pandore (2:39)

La recherche INVABIO comme première approche des perturbations apportées par les proliférations algales (5:05)

Enquête sur l’acceptabilité sociale de la transformation des sargasses en amendement agricole dans le programme de recherche Eco3Sar, Ecologie, Ecotoxicologie des sargasses (2018-2020) (6:54)

« Sargasses menace », une installation artistique en juin 2018 qui réunit geste politique et geste esthétique (7:54)

Singularité des impacts des sargasses sur le littoral martiniquais et guadeloupéen (9:04)

Alerte dans la revue The Lancet sur la sargasse comme « menace réelle pour la santé » due à la décomposition des sargasses(10:54)

Incidence sanitaire de la chlordécone ? (12:48)

Génèse de SaRiMed avec le groupe de recherche sur les sargasses du CHUM (13:06)

Présentation de SaRiMed, du consortium et des objectifs (15:44)

Constitution du corpus (17:14)

Diversité des parcours préventifs et curatifs pour vivre avec les sargasses (19:56)

Interdisciplinarité représentée au cœur du consortium pour analyser ce « fait social total » (20:46)

Travail des artistes sur l’invisible et les traces (22:35)

Une écriture et une médiation de la recherche grâce aux artistes (24:24)

Comment traduire l’expérience sensible ? (25:34)

Implications des artistes dans le projet art & science (26:36)

Partenariat avec le lycée Victor Anicet de Saint-Pierre, Martinique (28:21)

Appel à d’autres études sur les impacts sanitaires dans les territoires insulaires et/ou continentaux caribéens (29:21)

Impacts des sargasses par contact, hors décomposition (30:38)

Apport des sciences sociales dans les recherches interdisciplinaires (32:09)

Conclusion (34:36)

LINK TO LISTENERS SURVEY: https://forms.gle/cWVDc9ZUDM56mFsG8

Our guest today is Teresa Chavez-Capilla who is an environmental and bioanalytical chemist, working as a post-doc at the University in Bern, Switzerland. She is working in the Soil Science Unit within the Interfaculty Cooperation Project One Health, which looks at the microbial-mediated effects and transformations of different pollutants in the environment, and across the food chain. Her research focuses on the microbial-mediated transformations of arsenic from food in the mammalian gut. She is specialized in studying the metabolism of the arsenic available to humans from the diet, including that in seaweed. Besides her position at the University of Bern, she is part of the coordination team of 500 Women Scientist Bern-Fribourg, an organization aimed to promote women in STEM.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

-Survey announcement (0:35)

-Teresa Chavez-Capilla Introduction (3:43)

-Teresa's impression of sargassum influx in the Tropical Atlantic (4:57)

-What sargassum means to Teresa (6:15)

-Inorganic vs organic arsenic (8:00)

-How much arsenic is in the food we eat (10:01)

-What arsenic does to the human body when ingested (12:54)

-Bioaccumulation and bio modification as related to arsenic (15:27)

-Avoiding arsenic exposure in the food chain (16:51)

-What products we have to test for arsenic levels (19:10)

-Where arsenic in the ocean comes from (22:55)

-Whether arsenic is present in other algae (24:26)

-Organic arsenic sugars and carbohydrates in seaweed (26:06)

-Debrief (28:20)

Luis Macías es un experto en comercio internacional con un doctorado en Sociedad de la información y conocimiento, con más de diez años de experiencia en desarrollo empresarial y coordinación de proyectos. Forma parte de la “Earth Life University” en Playa del Carmen, México y además es el cofundador de Alquimar. Alquimar es una empresa dedicada a obtener productos de alto valor a partir del sargazo. Uno de sus últimos logros ha sido producir el bioestimulante fucoidan a partir del Sargazo.

Escucha el episodio para aprender sobre:

- Presentaciones (0)

- Quien es Luis Masia (2:28)

- Que es el sargazo para Luis Macías : una solución para la salud (2:45)

- Explicando la Earth Life University, una universidad alternativa y humana (5:10)

- La empresa Alquimar : como nació la idea, y como comenzaron a utilizar el sargazo (5:10)

- Como se hace la recolección del sargazo (12:48)

- Usos del sargazo en Alquimar : biofertilizantes, alimentación animal (18:46)

- Extracción de los componentes del sargazo para varios usos : alginato, fucoxantina, fucoidano (21:52)

- Fucoidano : extracción y utilizaciones por la salud humana (covid, colesterol, etc.) (22:49)

- El protocolo de recolección con Puerto Morelos. La penta helice : empresa, sociedad, gobierno, academia y naturaleza (29:51)

- Visión de Luis de la colaboración internacional por el sargazo (34:53)

- El sargazo como industria azul (40:42)

- Charla entre Mar, Paola y Clio (42:28)

Our guest today is Andrés Bisonó León who is the CEO and co-founder of SOS Carbon. He is from the Dominican Republic and studied mechanical engineering and finance at Drexel University in Philadelphia. SOS Carbon started as an R&D based at MIT in 2018. After successfully validating the technologies and system, the leading team developed a spinoff project. SOS Carbon is an environmental service company whose mission is to provide the most cost-effective & responsible solutions for sargassum collection and disposal. SOS Carbon efforts have also focused on involving local communities and acting as liaison between government agencies, private sector, academic institutions, and countries across the Caribbean with the goal to join forces to effectively compact the problem.

- What sargassum means to Andrés (8:17)

- Goals of SOS Carbon - Sargassum as a beneficial resource and opportunity! (9:00)

- Andrés history and passion for sargassum and giving back to the community (10:21)

- Partnering with colleague at MIT for technology-based solutions (12:30)

- Effects of sargassum in the Dominican Republic and Caribbean-wide (15:28)

- Local villages, mangroves and ecosystems are effected by sargassum events (19:20)

- SOS Carbon ("Sargassum Ocean Sequestration of Carbon") and carbon sequestration (22:00)

- Collaborations with MIT & local agencies and institutions for open-ocean solutions technologies (24:10)

- "We (SOS Carbon) were really sequestering a positive amount of carbon, meaning that our system wasn't going to require more energy than what we were going to sequester." (26:50)

- Continued work with other experts and teams to create the best system to manage the sargassum problem (29:13)

- Blue economics, ocean carbon sequestration and impact of sargassum on tourism (30:13)

- The many benefits of Littoral Collection Method (LCM) for fishing community and ecosystems (34:05)

- Uses of systems outside of sargassum specifically (38:00)

- Working together as a team to integrate communities and create opportunities (41:07)

- Associated costs (in USD) for the SOS Carbon hardware, fleet and the formal employment platform (44:16)

- Addressing by-catch within SOS Carbon solutions (47:21)

- Contact info and closing (50:11) *see below*

Transcript

Learn more about Andrés Bisonó León and SOS Carbon:

Pierre-Antoine Guibout est le fondateur de Sargasse Project, un projet de transformation des sargasses en pâte à papier destinée à la fabrication de papier, carton, et plus largement tout objet en cellulose moulée.

Originaire de Bretagne (France), Pierre-Antoine Guibout a mené des études en droit des affaires (université de Rennes) et en droit financier (ESCP et université de Paris XI), ce qui lui a permis de fonder une société de conseils. Juriste fiscaliste, il est aussi l’inventeur d’une pâte à papier à base de sargasses, créée grâce à son expérience des échouements de sargasses sur l’île de Saint-Barthélémy, où il habite depuis 2012.

Pour pérenniser son invention, mieux valoriser la sargasse et allier l’écologie à l’économie, il a créé la start-up Sargasse Project en 2019.

Shownotes

• Présentation des participants
  
• Que représente la sargasse pour Pierre-Antoine Guibout ? Une menace et une opportunité (1 :11)
  
• Arrivé en 2012 à Saint Barthélémy, un an après les premiers échouements massifs de sargasses, Pierre-Antoine Guibout nous parle de sa première approche des sargasses et de l’évolution du phénomène sur l’île, y compris au niveau du ramassage et de la prise en charge par la Collectivité (2 :59)
  
• Le phénomène physique : saisonnalité, circulation des flux de sargasses, zones d’échouements et impacts à Saint-Barthélémy (6 :38)
  
• Les sargasses changent de qualité et de statut selon leur progression en mer puis à terre. Plutôt que de s’intéresser au statut juridique fluctuant de la sargasse, Pierre-Antoine Guibout a préféré partir d’une « page blanche » (9 :25)
  
• Naissance du projet de valorisation (10 :55)
  
• Le processus de fabrication du papier et ses aléas (12 :26)
  
• Relativiser le problème de l’arsenic et autres polluants dans les sargasses ? (15 :44)
  
• Processus de fabrication du papier et ses aléas (suite) (19 :56)
  
• Développement de l’idée avec cellulose moulée (23 :54)
  
• Normes, analyses (24 :38)
  
• Logistique (29 :52)
  
• Propriétés ignifuge et résistance à l’eau (31 :16)
  
• Quels types de partenariats à développer ? (32 :56)
  
• Un passage d’une production artisanale à une production industrielle ? (34 :13)
  
• Prix, communication et propositions de financement (36 :46)
  
• Prospections dans d’autres territoires caribéens (38 :45)
  
• Collecte et sélection de la matière première (41 :56)
  

Sven Jense is the founder of Climate Cleanup an entrepreneurial non-profit organization with the mission of restoring the global carbon balance by removing 1500 gigaton of CO2 out of the atmosphere using natural climate solutions (NCS). One of the most promising and scalable solutions is seaweed. Eelco Leemans joined Climate Cleanup to work on marine solutions and how the oceans can help to sequester carbon. Together they are investigating if Sargassum can help.

Listen to the episode to learn:

-  Intro ~ 0:00

- Guest intro ~ 3:45

- What is sargassum to you? ~ 4:50

- Work in St. Martin (Nature Foundation, the issues like fumes, shipping a ton of sargassum, and local response) ~ 12:20

- Carbon capture study and changing economy based on new plants ~ 14:40

- The nutrition of sargassum (not for direct consumption) ~ 17:36

- Donut economy ~ 18:38

- St. Martin managing the sargassum (they are not doing that much), and how to think about solutions ~ 22:51

- What they are doing with the dried sargassum (chemical analysis, student awards, fertilizers and more) ~ 25:00

- Strength of sargassum and concrete ~ 26:33

- “Double nature solutions” ~ 28:35

- Long term carbon storage in building materials ~ 30:16

- Climate change driven flooding ~ 32:23

- What is needed for their carbon sequestration goals ~ 34:27

- Communication with local people ~ 37:48

- Funding by members logistics ~38:39

- “What do you need?” ~ 40:18

- Paying people  ~ 41:05

- Goodbyes ~ 42:47

- Debrief ~ 43:07

Jerry Mang’ena is a Marine Biologist, Aquapreneur, and the co-founder and director of Aqua-Farms Organisation in Tanzania. He is a tutor at the School of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Technology of the University of Dar es Salaam a co-organizer of TEDxOysterbay, a Mandela Washington Fellow, a Global shaper and a Climate Reality leader. Jerry has been able to penetrate the international seaweed market by exporting Seaweed to the United States. He is committed to protecting the ocean from unsustainable use and firmly believes that if aquatic resources are sustainably used they can help to mitigate climate change impacts and poverty. Since 2018, using a Gender-sensitive approach, he has changed lives of 58 women from Zanzibar Islands through training on financial literacy, business management skills, value addition to seaweed-based products. He lives in Tanzania and does most of his work in Zanzibar, an island on the East Coast of Africa that also experiences influxes by Sargassum, a phenomenon that is not well known.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

- Intro ~ 0:00

- Guest intro ~ 1:28

- What is sargassum to you ~ 3:00

- History of sargassum in Zanzibar ~ 4:04

- Quantity of sargassum ~ 6:50

- Sargassum’s effect on different stakeholder groups ~ 8:01

o Fisherman and sargassum ~ 10:00

o Seaweed farmers ~ 11:30

o Tourism industry ~ 13:30

o Fishing industry ~ 15:30

- People positively interacting with endangered species (dugongs, sea turtle) ~ 17:45

- The coral reefs of the region ~ 21:00

- People interacting with sargassum ~ 23:40

- People using sargassum ~ 24:45

o Chickenpox medicine ~ 25:00

o Skin care ~ 25:38

- Aquaculture ~ 26:38

- Nile fish ~ 30:10

- International organizations helping with local community ~ 31:57

- Good bye ~ 34:58