Assessing Societal Impacts of Harmful Macroalgae Blooms in the Caribbean - NCCOS - National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:34
Assessing Societal Impacts of Harmful Macroalgae Blooms in the Caribbean - NCCOS - National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
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NCCOS PROJECT
Assessing Societal Impacts of Harmful Macroalgae Blooms in the Caribbean
Published on:
12/09/2020
Science Area(s):
Ecosystem Services Valuation
,
Harmful Algal Bloom Detection and Forecasting
,
Other Topics
,
Social Science
,
Sponsored Research
,
Stressor Impacts and Mitigation
Region(s) of Study:
Puerto Rico
,
U.S. States and Territories
,
U.S. Virgin Islands
Primary Contact(s):
brittany.king@noaa.gov
,
felix.martinez@noaa.gov
This project began in September 2020 and is projected to be completed in August 2023.
We will examine how Sargassum seaweed blooms and their mitigation in the Caribbean affect multiple dimensions of social resilience, including economic impacts, human well-being, local ecological knowledge, and individual attitudes, values, and behaviors.
Why We Care
In recent years, the number, distribution, and magnitude of macroalgal blooms have increased globally, with consequent impacts on coastal system resilience that have led many to consider them a new type of natural disaster. This is particularly true in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico regions, where blooms of free‐floating
Sargassum
spp. are resulting in pelagic, nearshore, and onshore accumulations that have become an increasingly persistent and severe nuisance since first appearing in 2011.
Although recent attention has gone to forecasting trajectories or discovering causative influences of these harmful algal bloom (HAB) events, their impacts are still poorly understood. However, mounting evidence suggests that the size and frequency of these blooms pose unprecedented environmental, social, and economic risks, including threats to tourism, property values, fisheries, aquaculture, public health, and quality of life. In addition to the direct effects of nearshore and onshore
Sargassum
accumulations, there are also secondary effects associated with control and mitigation.
Management responses to these HAB events vary considerably from place to place and can include deployment of floating interception barriers and development of removal technologies in nearshore waters, varying intensities of manual and mechanical removal of beached macroalgae, and transport and disposal of removed biomass, often to unlined landfills or illegal dump sites. These control and mitigation activities pose unique challenges, and their impacts and efficacy are largely unstudied. Additionally, lack of coordination within and between communities, concerns about public safety, lack of policy development, and lack of authoritative best practice guidelines complicate management efforts. An assessment of the primary and secondary socioeconomic impacts of
Sargassum
accumulations will inform a wise and efficient response by local and regional managers.
What We Are Doing
Few studies have evaluated economic impacts of harmful macroalgal blooms. These include, economic estimates of macro‐HABs related to large‐scale tourism losses and property devaluation in Hawaii from invasive
Hypnea musciformis
, and costs to aquaculture operations and monitoring and mitigation of green tides in China’s Yellow Sea. Though some preliminary efforts have been made to quantify the labor required for
Sargassum
cleanup efforts, no formal economic studies have been published estimating the cost of that labor, or any other economic effects of
Sargassum
events.
The project team will assess how massive blooms of the macroalga
Sargassum
in the Caribbean affect multiple dimensions of social resilience, including economic impacts, human well-being, local ecological knowledge, and individual attitudes, values, and behaviors. In particular, this study has the following objectives:
Characterize the nature and severity of
Sargassum
events in the wider Caribbean.
Investigate human well-being, local ecological knowledge, and individual attitudes,
values and behaviors associated with
Sargassum
events, primarily in U.S. jurisdictions of
the Caribbean.
Analyze economic impacts of
Sargassum
events, primarily in U.S. jurisdictions of the
Caribbean.
Actively integrate local community members, resource users, and other relevant
stakeholders throughout the project to ensure that results effectively transition to
management applications.
Dr. Tracey Dalton of the University of Rhode Island leads this project. Co-investigators are Dr. Carlos Garcia-Quijano (University of Rhode Island), Mr. Peter Freeman (University of Rhode Island), and Dr. Di Jin (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution). The project is funded through the NCCOS
Prevention, Control, and Mitigation of Harmful Algal Blooms Program
.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Click to expand resource list(s).
Products, Datasets & Reports
Peer-Reviewed Publications
News & Feature Stories
Related Links
Explore Similar Projects
Fate and Effects of PFOS and PFOA in Saltmarsh Ecosystems
March 26, 2026
Genomic and Trophic Dynamics of Harmful Algal Bloom Species in South Central Alaska
March 17, 2026
Presence and Pathways of PFAS in Alaska’s Commercial Fish Stocks
March 10, 2026
Skip to content
An official website of the United States government.
Here's how you know we're official.
Official websites use .gov
A
.gov
website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A
lock
or
https://
means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
NCCOS PROJECT
Assessing Societal Impacts of Harmful Macroalgae Blooms in the Caribbean
Published on:
12/09/2020
Science Area(s):
Ecosystem Services Valuation
,
Harmful Algal Bloom Detection and Forecasting
,
Other Topics
,
Social Science
,
Sponsored Research
,
Stressor Impacts and Mitigation
Region(s) of Study:
Puerto Rico
,
U.S. States and Territories
,
U.S. Virgin Islands
Primary Contact(s):
brittany.king@noaa.gov
,
felix.martinez@noaa.gov
This project began in September 2020 and is projected to be completed in August 2023.
We will examine how Sargassum seaweed blooms and their mitigation in the Caribbean affect multiple dimensions of social resilience, including economic impacts, human well-being, local ecological knowledge, and individual attitudes, values, and behaviors.
Why We Care
In recent years, the number, distribution, and magnitude of macroalgal blooms have increased globally, with consequent impacts on coastal system resilience that have led many to consider them a new type of natural disaster. This is particularly true in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico regions, where blooms of free‐floating
Sargassum
spp. are resulting in pelagic, nearshore, and onshore accumulations that have become an increasingly persistent and severe nuisance since first appearing in 2011.
Although recent attention has gone to forecasting trajectories or discovering causative influences of these harmful algal bloom (HAB) events, their impacts are still poorly understood. However, mounting evidence suggests that the size and frequency of these blooms pose unprecedented environmental, social, and economic risks, including threats to tourism, property values, fisheries, aquaculture, public health, and quality of life. In addition to the direct effects of nearshore and onshore
Sargassum
accumulations, there are also secondary effects associated with control and mitigation.
Management responses to these HAB events vary considerably from place to place and can include deployment of floating interception barriers and development of removal technologies in nearshore waters, varying intensities of manual and mechanical removal of beached macroalgae, and transport and disposal of removed biomass, often to unlined landfills or illegal dump sites. These control and mitigation activities pose unique challenges, and their impacts and efficacy are largely unstudied. Additionally, lack of coordination within and between communities, concerns about public safety, lack of policy development, and lack of authoritative best practice guidelines complicate management efforts. An assessment of the primary and secondary socioeconomic impacts of
Sargassum
accumulations will inform a wise and efficient response by local and regional managers.
What We Are Doing
Few studies have evaluated economic impacts of harmful macroalgal blooms. These include, economic estimates of macro‐HABs related to large‐scale tourism losses and property devaluation in Hawaii from invasive
Hypnea musciformis
, and costs to aquaculture operations and monitoring and mitigation of green tides in China’s Yellow Sea. Though some preliminary efforts have been made to quantify the labor required for
Sargassum
cleanup efforts, no formal economic studies have been published estimating the cost of that labor, or any other economic effects of
Sargassum
events.
The project team will assess how massive blooms of the macroalga
Sargassum
in the Caribbean affect multiple dimensions of social resilience, including economic impacts, human well-being, local ecological knowledge, and individual attitudes, values, and behaviors. In particular, this study has the following objectives:
Characterize the nature and severity of
Sargassum
events in the wider Caribbean.
Investigate human well-being, local ecological knowledge, and individual attitudes,
values and behaviors associated with
Sargassum
events, primarily in U.S. jurisdictions of
the Caribbean.
Analyze economic impacts of
Sargassum
events, primarily in U.S. jurisdictions of the
Caribbean.
Actively integrate local community members, resource users, and other relevant
stakeholders throughout the project to ensure that results effectively transition to
management applications.
Dr. Tracey Dalton of the University of Rhode Island leads this project. Co-investigators are Dr. Carlos Garcia-Quijano (University of Rhode Island), Mr. Peter Freeman (University of Rhode Island), and Dr. Di Jin (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution). The project is funded through the NCCOS
Prevention, Control, and Mitigation of Harmful Algal Blooms Program
.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Click to expand resource list(s).
Products, Datasets & Reports
Peer-Reviewed Publications
News & Feature Stories
Related Links
Explore Similar Projects
Fate and Effects of PFOS and PFOA in Saltmarsh Ecosystems
March 26, 2026
Genomic and Trophic Dynamics of Harmful Algal Bloom Species in South Central Alaska
March 17, 2026
Presence and Pathways of PFAS in Alaska’s Commercial Fish Stocks
March 10, 2026