Volume 69
Socio-economic Impacts of Sargassum Influx Events on the Fishery Sector of Barbados
Authors
Ramlogan, N., P. McConney, and H. Oxenford Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2016
Pages: 197 - 198
Event: Proceedings of the Sixty eigth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Grand Cayman
Country: Cayman Islands
Abstract
The Sargassum influx events occurring in Barbados, and throughout the Eastern Caribbean in the years 2011, 2014 and 2015, were new and relatively unknown to the region. Although substantial research has been done on the two pelagic Sargassum seaweed species in the Sargasso Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, very little was known about the behaviour of the seaweed from what appeared to be a new source region. Throughout the Eastern Caribbean there were multiple reports of negative impacts of Sargassum in countries where it washed up along the shorelines in large volumes, and calls for the development of new technologies to manage the seaweed onshore and offshore, and for an improved ability to forecast and predict landfalls of the weed. There was however, little to no research done on the socio-economic impacts of the events on the fishery sector. This research was carried out to help fill that gap for the fisheries sector of Barbados.