News article from the T&T Express via https://trinidadexpress.com/features/local/developing-a-national-sargassum-management-plan/article_ed833c25-2e0f-442d-96fe-9a472623ecd9.html#google_vignette
Featured photo by Nature Seekers: Sargassum clean-up at Matura, April 2025.
During the recent school vacation and long weekends, many folks went to the beaches or turtle watching, but once again, they were faced with mounds of rotted sargassum (brown seaweed). Not a pleasant sight but, unfortunately, large quantities of sargassum were forecast to be washing up along our shores.
This occurrence has had significant negative impacts, particularly on coastal communities and livelihoods, public health, tourism and fisheries since 2011. In Trinidad and Tobago, sargassum influxes have been reported along most of our coastlines and government has been expending funds annually to clean up and dispose of the large biomass.
While sargassum response plans were developed independently for Trinidad and Tobago, clean-up efforts for both islands remained ad hoc. In August 2024, the Cabinet appointed a multi-sectoral National Sargassum Task Force (NSTF) comprising state agencies as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to coordinate sargassum management response nationally.
The NSTF recognised there was a lack of policy which addressed the collection, disposal and utilisation of sargassum, gaps in the legislation, lack of budget allocation for removing sargassum, no sargassum forecasting locally or early warning system, and a general lack of public education or awareness. To address these challenges, the NSTF has developed a National Sargassum Management Policy, which it hopes to finalise through a public consultative process.
The goal of the management policy is to foster a collaborative, environmentally responsible and economically beneficial approach to sargassum management through early warning, efficient removal, safe disposal and sustainable reuse to minimise adverse impacts on human health, ecosystems, and coastal economies.
The policy hopes to ensure sargassum influxes into the coastal nearshore areas and onshore are managed and addressed in a timely and efficient manner, and that information is disseminated among all relevant stakeholders, including coastal communities, and negative impacts are either prevented or minimised.
The NSTF recognised there was a lack of policy which addressed the collection, disposal and utilisation of sargassum, gaps in the legislation, lack of budget allocation for removing sargassum, no sargassum forecasting locally or early warning system, and a general lack of public education or awareness. To address these challenges, the NSTF has developed a National Sargassum Management Policy, which it hopes to finalise through a public consultative process.
The goal of the management policy is to foster a collaborative, environmentally responsible and economically beneficial approach to sargassum management through early warning, efficient removal, safe disposal and sustainable reuse to minimise adverse impacts on human health, ecosystems, and coastal economies.
The policy hopes to ensure sargassum influxes into the coastal nearshore areas and onshore are managed and addressed in a timely and efficient manner, and that information is disseminated among all relevant stakeholders, including coastal communities, and negative impacts are either prevented or minimised.
The policy provides adaptive strategies and guidance for the monitoring, collection, storage, and disposal of sargassum. It aims to encourage meaningful collaboration and communication among key stakeholders at all levels and throughout the process, from early warning to public education and awareness to clean-up/removal. There are still many uncertainties associated with sargassum influx, so adaptive management is required. There is no “business-as-usual” scenario yet.
