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SARGASSUM - The giant brown seaweed, having shown that it can spread from North to South Atlantic oceans, could spread to the Indian and Pacific oceans as a potentially invasive species. The proof of which (as a theory) is satellite pictures, and changing wind states.

The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico could be just the beginning of a worldwide plague, stemming from our inability to curb political insatiability for fossil fuels to power up their failing economic strategies, based on growth, when we have already used up the planet twice over, in sustainable terms.

Thus, economic growth, unless zero carbon, is not possible without heating the planet even more.

The answer to failed political policies (FLOP 26) is very often a jolly good war, as in Russia Vs Ukraine. When all cock-ups get thrown to the wind in the media scrum, and a whitewash ensues, until the next band of post-war cutthroats is elected, each with their hands in the pockets of Lucifer's climate change deniers.

But even without conflict, global warming will not reverse for 30-50 years at best, and that is with a fair political wind, as we transition to renewables. Meaning that the conditions for sargassum to populate welcoming equatorial waters around the globe, remains a distinct possibility. Such as the:

Arabian Sea

Atlantic - North & South Equatorial

Banda Ceram Molucca & Timor Seas

Bay of Bengal

Celebes Sea

Gulf of Guinea

Gulf of Thailand

Indian Ocean

Java Sea

Pacific Ocean - North & South, Equatorial Belt (Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama regions)

Philippine Sea

South China Sea

Seas and oceans in these latitudes could become inundated with macro algae, if the rafts of floating seaweed manage to navigate less hospitable barriers, such as colder regions. Which at the moment, Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope appear to offer some protection from invasion.

This is a theory being developed by Nelson Kay (as a volunteer) in 2022, based on his work with the SeaVax team from 2016 - 2020. Though mostly concerning micro and macro plastic recovery and river containment, the ocean engineering and logistical challenges posed by SeaVax are kindred concepts, and may be sympathetically adapted or even interchangeable to some degree.

HOW TO READ THE MAP (TABLE 1) - The literature species report in a country is represented by an icon (a circle) in the middle of the country polygon.

Important: a report in the literature does not necessarily mean that the species is currently present in the country! There are errors in literature, misidentifications, and some species have been locally or globally extirpated or eradicated.

The patterns and colours of the icon give 4 additional indications (see the legend under the map for the signification of the different colours and patterns):

Presence status: the colour of the ring (green: Present; orange: Possible; red: Absent)
Introduction status: a white 'i' in the middle of the circle indicates that the species has been introduced, if the presence ring is green it means that the species established itself or that we don't know the current presence status, if the presence ring is red it means that the species did not established itself.
Threat status: the pattern of the ring (not dashed: not threatened or no information; dashed: any status indicating that the species has a national threatened).
Important: This is the national threatened status, not the global IUCN one.
Salinity status = milieu: the colours in the middle circle (blue: Marine; green: Brackish; light blue: freshwater; dark green: Land).

HOW TO INTERPRET THE MAP (TABLE 1) - The icon in a country polygon indicates that the species has been reported at least once in the country, BUT NOT NECESSARILY that it is present IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. This is particularly so for large countries such as Brazil, USA, Canada, Russia, China, India, Indonesia, Australia, etc.
For example, a number of freshwater species present in western European countries are also present in the western part of Russia, but not beyond the Ural mountains. Still the icon for Russia is placed in its Asian part.
The icon is placed approximately in the middle of the country, even for the species that are marine only.
For marine species, it does not mean either that the species is present in all oceanic coasts of the countries (e.g., Atlantic and Pacific for USA and Canada). So the map needs to be interpreted carefully, but we think it helps to give a quick view of the distribution by country, in a better way than the textual list of countries when it is over a dozen countries.

Academics and scientific institutions inclined to test such thesis, or otherwise wishing to provide data or technological assistance, positive or negative, should please contact the Cleaner Ocean Foundation in the first instance. The aim being to prove or disprove the concept, to advance our knowledge in this little understood area of Oceanology/Oceanography. Degree level students are welcome and post graduates looking for their Masters or other higher level qualifications.

A Cleaner Ocean Foundation crew could be available to cut metal, along with an impressive lineup of institutions and engineering firms - to make it happen. Nelson, having retired from active duty, though available as a go-between and for consultation/steerage, if his help may assist kickstart such investigations.

There are a million reasons for not doing something, and only one driver for diving into a challenge. Most people will use the manifold negatives as an excuse for sitting back in their armchairs. Every now and again, someone is foolhardy enough to roll their sleeves up - and have a go. Despite the enormity of the task.

PLASTIC TIDE - These amazing pictures of a giant plastic tide were taken by Caroline Power. Please note how plastic and sargassum intertwine, creating a separation problem.

CARIBBEAN ISLANDS UNDER THREAT A-Z

Anguilla

Antigua and Barbuda

Aruba (Netherlands)

Bahamas
Barbados

British Virgin Islands

Caribbean Netherlands

Cayman Islands (UK)

Cuba

Curaçao (Netherlands)

Dominica

Dominican Republic (Hispaniola)

Grenada

Guadeloupe (France) 
Haiti (Hispaniola)
Jamaica
Martinique (France) 
Montserrat
Puerto Rico (US) 

Roatán

Saint Barthélemy

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia 

Saint Martin 

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Sint Maarten (Netherlands)

Tortuga

Trinidad and Tobago

Turks and Caicos Islands
United States Virgin Islands 

LINKS & REFERENCE

https://www.sealifebase.se/Country/CountryList.php?id=108761&genusname=Sargassum&speciesname=oligocystum&lang=english

AEGEAN - ACIDIFICATION - ADRIATIC - ARCTIC - ATLANTIC - BALTIC - BAY BENGAL - BAY BISCAY - BERING - BLACK - CARIBBEAN - CASPIAN - CORAL - EAST CHINA SEA

ENGLISH CH - GOC - GUANABARA - GULF GUINEA - GULF MEXICO - INDIAN - IRC - IONIAN - IRISH - MEDITERRANEAN - NORTH SEA - PACIFIC - PERSIAN GULF - SEA JAPAN

STH CHINA - PLASTIC - PLANKTON - PLASTIC OCEANS - RED - SARGASSO - SEA LEVEL RISE - SOUTHERN - TYRRHENIAN - UNCLOS - UNEP - WOC - WWF

 This website is provided on a free basis as a public information service. copyright © Cleaner Oceans Foundation Ltd (COFL) (Company No: 4674774) January 2024. Solar Studios, BN271RF, United Kingdom. COFL is a charity without share capital. The names Amphimax™ RiverVax™ and SeaVax™ are trademarks.