Joint call "Sargassum III"

Since 2011, the coastal regions of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico have been confronted with massive strandings of Sargassum seaweed, the scale and persistence of which stand out from previous waves. The degradation of the seaweed causes significant releases of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, leading to beach closures and the evacuation of coastal populations, thus confronting the regions concerned with a critical health, environmental and economic situation.

In response to this situation, as part of the National Plan for the Prevention and Control of Sargassum, the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation has tasked the French National Research Agency (ANR) with supporting basic and applied research through the coordination of several joint calls for projects.

In 2019, a first joint call for “Sargassum - Research, Development and Innovation” projects with ADEME, the local authorities of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana, as well as the Brazilian agencies FAPESP and FACEPE, was launched with the aim of enhancing knowledge on the causes of these massive sargassum strandings and proposing solutions to manage these crises, which particularly affect the islands of the Caribbean. 

In 2021, a second joint call for research projects with FACEPE (Brazil) and NWO (Netherlands) has been launched to understand and predict the proliferation of Sargassum.

The results of the granted projects from these two calls suggest the need to extend the research effort with a 3rd call for projects on the impact on human health, but also to deepen studies on the products used to valorize these brown algae. 

This third “Sargassum” call for projects is supported by the ANR and ADEME, and has two main focuses:

• Valorization
• Human health