What is Sargassum? 

Sargassum is a type of floating brown algae that serves as vital habitat, food, and breeding grounds for various marine species, playing a crucial role in the pelagic ecosystem. Historically abundant in the Sargasso Sea, it has also proliferated in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. In 2011, a significant aggregation known as the "Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt" emerged, stretching from West Africa to the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, potentially due to shifts in wind patterns, river discharges, and rising sea surface temperatures. Sargassum can form large blooms that are transported by currents, leading to Sargassum Inundation Events (SIEs) that create challenges for coastal communities, including harm to wildlife, exposure to toxins, clogged fishing gear, and negative impacts on tourism. Sargassum in the open ocean is closely monitored and tracked, however, beaching events of Sargassum have been hard to predict. This makes it difficult for coastal communities to prepare, leaving many people and wildlife vulnerable to the harmful effects of SIEs, including impediment to beach-nesting wildlife, exposure to toxins as it decays on the beach, clogged fishing gear, and negative impacts to coastal tourism.

SECART coordinates across NOAA to address management and disaster issues around Sargassum

NOAA’s Southeast and Caribbean Regional Team (SECART) is one of eight regional collaboration teams focused on coordinating and facilitating collaborations across NOAA’s line offices and partners to improve services provided to communities within the region. In 2023, reports of a Sargassum “blob” that was expected to wash up on beaches in U.S. states and territories made headlines. In response, SECART initiated a series of meetings to bring together NOAA personnel with expertise in Sargassum monitoring, response, and research. From this series of meetings came a number of actions including 1) creating an inventory of the NOAA offices, programs, and points-of-contact (POCs) that cover Sargassum, and 2) developing a series of products to further the coordination among the offices, programs, and POCs.

Sargassum Inundation Events (SIE) Addendum for the Guide to Integrated NOAA Disaster Resilience in the Southeast and Caribbean

One product included developing a new section on Sargassum for the Guide to Integrated NOAA Disaster Resilience in the Southeast and Caribbean (“the Guide”) in conjunction with the NOAA’s Disaster Preparedness Program. The Guide is designed to enhance coordination of NOAA’s diverse expertise, services, and resources when preparing for, responding to, or recovering from a natural or anthropogenic emergency that involves a threat or damage to human health or life, to property, or to the environment. In addition, the Guide is intended to help raise awareness of NOAA roles and responsibilities and promote coordination during these events with NOAA partners. The Sargassum section includes contact information on NOAA line offices involved in the preparation, response, and recovery to Sargassum disaster events.

NOAA Southeast and Caribbean Regional Team (SECART) (2024) Sargassum Inundation Events (SIE) Addendum for the Guide to Integrated NOAA Disaster Resilience in the Southeast and Caribbean. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. View the Sargassum addendum to the Guide here.

View the current version of the Guide here (last updated March 2022).

Learn more about SECART’s role in disaster resilience here. 

Nearshore Sargassum Management: Policy Analysis and Agency Gaps Assessment

An additional product that came out of these meetings included SECART and the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) taking the initiative to prepare a Policy Analysis and Agency Gaps Assessment paper in an effort to provide an overview of different management and regulatory jurisdictions surrounding Sargassum. 

The purpose of this document is to identify NOAA’s policy gaps in Sargassum management within the United States and the territories. The authors do not intend to provide a position on behalf of NOAA on how to manage Sargassum, but rather aim to provide consolidated reference material for management and expedited policy development. The policy assessment covers: a brief overview of Sargassum ecology, distribution, and onshore impacts; a review of the various U.S. legal designations of Sargassum; a description of existing efforts within NOAA related to Sargassum; and identification of gaps within the existing legal and agency framework that should be considered within NOAA. The policy assessment highlights the uncertainty surrounding the timing and process of Sargassum's transition from a nearshore habitat to a harmful threat, indicating that this ambiguity necessitates a careful approach to response, mitigation, and clean-up efforts.

Vital, V., Brown, M., Galloway, J., Egan, K., and Martinez, F. (2024) Nearshore Sargassum Management: Policy Analysis and Agency Gaps Assessment offsite link. U.S. Dept of Commerce. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.