The Sargassum Podcast

Jake Kheel is an environmental innovator whose efforts in the Dominican Republic with the Grupo Punta Cana Foundation have won numerous awards and made the country’s tourism more competitive and environmentally sustainable. Jake directs the Center for Sustainability, a think tank partnering with renowned universities to conduct environmental research. He helped pioneer one of the Caribbean’s largest coral reef restoration projects as well as research and development on ways to tackle the Sargassum crisis. To him Sargassum is both an incredible ecosystem and an immense challenge for the tourism industry.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

- Sargassum as an incredible ecosystem (3:50)

- Sargassum as major challenge for the tourism industry and local community and environment (4:45)

- Impact of Sargassum on tourism: image, guest experience, smell, cost of removal, sand erosion due to removal (5:30)

- The Sargassum inundations started in Punta Cana in2011 but were a problem of a few months, then in 2012 and 2015 it became a much larger problem and the resort started coming up with long term strategies to manage it (10:00)

- Using their companies talents and resources to constructing barriers to keep Sargassum away from the beaches (12:20)

- Punta Cana became an innovation hub for Sargassum solutions (19:15)

- How the resorts history and commitment to sustainability gave them unique skills to tackle the Sargassum challenge (22:32)

- Ability to innovate and adapt to new challenges is needed now and in the future as we are facing rapid changes (23:20)

- Algaenova piloting composting, biogas and compostable single use plates in Punta Cana (24:25)

- Creating alternative job opportunities for fishermen to prevent overfishing of the coral reefs (31:40)

- Hiring local fishermen to maintain floating Sargassum barriers turned these fishermen into Sargassum entrepreneurs (34:10)

- The Groupo Punta Cana foundation has been establish in 1994 and works on sustainable solutions for challenges the local community and their resort faces. As part of that they invested in local education and health and found solutions for solid waste management at the resort. The manage the marine habitat and the resort into a wildlife refuge for wild hawks (37:10)

- Instead of looking at companies as the cause of environmental problems or the funding source for solutions, we should consider then think tanks of innovation (42:45)

- Jake’s new book “waking the sleeping giant” is a book for anyone but especially the implementers, solution folks and problem solvers in companies (45:25)

- Recommendations for a company that wants to become more sustainable (48:50)

Transcript

Learn more about Jake and the topics we talked about:

֍ Jake’s book waking the sleeping giant

֍ Grupo Punta Cana Foundation website

֍ Jake’s LinkedIn

֍ Jake’s Instagram

Listen:

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW4vMX6b_Sc

En este episodio hablamos con la bióloga marina mexicana Verónica Monroy que nos habla de todos los bichitos asociados con el Sargazo. Verónica es experta en taxonomía, biología y ecología de crustáceos e invertebrados asociados a praderas de pastos marinos y arrecifes coralinos. En 2018 comenzó a estudiar la epifauna asociada al sargazo pelágico y desde 2019 trabaja como investigadora postdoctoral en el laboratorio de la Dr. Brigita van Tussenbroek de la UNAM.

Escucha el episodio para aprender sobre:

-Presentaciones (0)

-Que es el sargazo para Veronica (1 :54)

Como empezo su amor y dedicacion con la taxonimia y como se encontro a trabajar con el sargazo

-Su experiencia de trabajo en el laboratorio de Brigitta Van Tussenbroeck : los crustaceos (6 :30)

-Un amor por la taxonomia (8 :30)

- La virtud de la paciencia para poder ser taxonomista (10 :20)

- De que forma el sargazo afecta los pastos marinos y los arrecifes (11 :40)

- La campania oceanografica en los paises bajos para colectar sargazo : estudio de los bryozoarios y hydrozoarios (14 :55)

-El rol que tiene esta macrofauna en el ecosistema del sargazo (17 :45)

- La macrofauna del mar de Sargazo y del cinturon Atlantico se parecen pero tambien pueden variar en abundancia (19 :30)

- La macrofauna en el sargazo podria ser exotica invasora ?(24 :49)

- La mortalidad associada con las llegadas de sargazo (29 :50)

-Los estudios que faltan por hacer sobre la fauna de sargazo (34)

-Charla entre Mar y Clio sobre lo aprendido durante la entrevista (37 :49)

Si quieres saber más sobre el trabajo de Veronica, aquí tienes los links a sus proyectos:

֍ Su researchgate

֍ Su Linkedin

֍ Un articulo con la macrofauna associada al sargazo

֍El articulo de 2019 sobre la mortalidad associada a los arribazones de sargazo

Si quieres ponerte en contacto con nosotros mándanos un e-mail a [email protected] o conecta con nosotros a través de las redes sociales facebook, twitter, Instagram, linkedin.

Quieres más? Conviértete en uno de nuestros patrocinadores desde 1 USD al mes! https://www.patreon.com/theSargassumP...​ De esta forma podrás participar en nuestra “happy hour” mensual con los entrevistados en nuestro podcast y otros fans de sargazo. Agradecemos enormemente cualquier apoyo y estamos deseando conectar con todos ustedes!

Te gusta nuestra música? La canción se llama: “Them Ah Pree” de Drizzle Roadranna. Síguele en Drizzle RoadRanna | Spotify 

In this episode we talk to Jasmine Harrison and Mark Sealey. Both of them have completed the 2020 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge and rowed 3000 miles from the Canary Island of La Gomera to Antigua. More people have climbed Everest in one year than have rowed the Atlantic Ocean, and it is rightly considered to be one of the toughest challenges on the planet. Jasmine Harrison represented the team Rudderly Mad and did the crossing solo. Mark Sealey rowed the Atlantic as part of the 4 person Force Genesis team. Both of them experienced Sargassum during their crossing and tell us the story of their crossing.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

- Sargassum being a welcome sight to see while out a sea as long as it doesn’t get stuck in the rudders (5:25)

- What it is like to hear about Sargassum the first time while being in the middle of the Atlantic (7:00)

- The three charities they are raising money for while doing the crossing (9:45)

- How Jasmine heard about the Atlantic crossing and decided to take part (12:00)

- Seasickness, bad weather, capsizing, gear breaking, mental challenges and close encounters with ships : toughest moments out at sea (14:05, 17:30, 22:15)

- Sunsets, night skies, flat water and wildlife: best moments out at sea (15:30, 17:45, 23:50)

- Support vessels checking in with them (18:10)

- How they switched between rowing and sleeping (18:45)

- How does wildlife change across the Atlantic (26:10)

- Most of the plastic seen was in the Sargassum (30:05)

- Dorado, Mahi Mahi and Triggerfish were some of the larger fish they saw (33:00)

- Scary moment: Getting your boat harpoon speared by blue marlin (35:40)

- Getting stuck in thick Sargassum mats (40:00)

- “Are you really going to row the Atlantic?” “Why wouldn’t you?” (44:40)

- The feeling of arriving in Antigua (47:00)

Transcript

Learn more about the two rowing teams:

Jasmine Harrison

֍ Website

֍ Facebook

֍ Instagram

֍ Charity/donation link

Mark Sealey

֍ Website

֍ Facebook

֍ Instagram

֍ Twitter

֍ Charity/donation link 

Sargassum podcast:

 [email protected], facebook, twitter, Instagram, linkedin.

Become one of our patrons 

Like our music? The song is called Them Ah Pree by Drizzle Roadranna. Follow him on spotify and youtubeand Spotify

Nous continuons avec l’artiste Louisa Marajo, pour qui les sargasses constituent depuis 2018 une source d’inspiration. Louisa Marajo est d’origine martiniquaise, vit et enseigne à Paris, mais crée souvent in situ sur le littoral de son île natale. Elle a exposé récemment ses œuvres à Paris, ainsi qu’à Miami. Elle co-organise depuis 2019 l’exposition Homo Sargassum avec Vanessa Selk (podcast sur youtube ).

Ecoutez cet épisode :

Présentation des participants (00:40)

Que représente la sargasse pour Louisa Marajo ? « Une plante envahissante et rebelle » (02:30)

Projets d’expositions (04:11) : l’idée du chaos au Perez art museum, et l’idée de « construire un monde avec les sargasses »

Performance dans l’exposition parisienne : serons-nous tous des sargasses prochainement ? (05:41)

Une question néo-coloniale ? La relation à la sargasse comme rapport du local au global et l’invisibilité de ce problème inhérent à la Grande Caraïbe ? (06:52)

Homo sargassum, centre et défragmentation (08:08)

Scientifiques et artistes, ensemble pour la redécouverte des « fléaux et des ruines de ce monde » (09:12)

L’organisation des différentes formes d’exposition (10:24)

Le travail entre artistes et scientifiques, en sciences sociales comme en sciences expérimentales sera une construction/déconstruction d’idées, de création, de pratiques (10:54)

Quel message et quelle vision du monde l’expression peut apporter à ce problème écologique ? L’artiste apporte un déplacement du problème (11:51)

Le rôle des entrepreneurs et des acteurs locaux dans Homo Sargassum : mouvement et intersectionnalité (14:20)

Le papier de Sargasse project et les amendements agricoles de la société Holdex (16:31)

Changement de trajectoire du projet à cause du Covid-19 (17:08)

Carnet du confinement (20:29)

Se nourrir des peurs générées pendant le Covid et difficulté à respirer lors des décompositions de sargasses (22:24)

Renaissance (23:27)

Remerciements (24:54)

Debrief (25:30)

Vous pouvez écouter en version complète notre générique, par Drizzle RoadRanna(35:02)

Transcription

Si vous voulez en lire plus sur les sujets développés par Louisa Marajo :

- Le site de Louisa Marajo 

- Homo sargassum sur le site de Toutmonde Art Foundation 

- L’exposition Poussières océaniques à la Galerie Dix9 

- La valorisation des algues en papier 

Les amendements agricoles d’Holdex environnement présentés sur le site Martinique 2030 

Our guests today are Melissa de Freitas, Maxine Trotman and Tessa Davy.  Melissa is a Geophysicist working as Energy Officer at the Energy Unit  of the Government of St. Vincent. Maxine currently lives in Atlanta  Georgia and organizes relief effort from there and Tessa is a retired  healthcare professional and is currently on St. Vincent for her tourism  related work. Melissa and Tessa share how they experienced the volcanic  eruptions on St. Vincent and Maxine shares with us how she organizes  relief from afar.    

Ways to donate:  

Non profit Constructive Solution Inc., which is coordinating immediate  distribution to affected citizens in St. Vincent:  https://tinyurl.com/7pkypx8c

In this episode we talk to Brigitte Gavio who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She leads the Research Group in Molecular Systematics and Biogeography of Marine Macroalgae and her research focuses on taxonomy and biogeography of marine algae.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

- The importance of Sargassum for sea turtles (7:00)

- Currently only the San Andres Archipelago receives Sargassum in larger quantities in Colombia, however the Caribbean coast should still prepare in case they ever get beaching events (9:00)

- Her research trip to the very remote Cayo Serranilla where they found a large amount of turtles nesting (12:30)

- Sargassum arriving on Cayo Serranilla during their research trip (17:20)

- Impact of Sargassum and rats on nesting turtles and emerging hatchlings (18.30)

- Size of Cayo Serranilla and its rocky and sandy shore line (22:00)

- Rat removal on islands (23:00)

- Use of turtles of offshore Sargassum mats(28:00)

Transcript

Learn more about Brigitte’s work:

֍ Brigitte’s professional website

֍ Molecular Systematics and Biogeography of Marine Macroalgae research group

֍Gavio and Santo- Martinez, 2018. Floating Sargassum in Serranilla Bank, Caribbean Colombia may jeopardize the race to the ocean of baby sea turtles

Our guest today is Dr Ashley Johns, the founder of Constructive Solutions which is helping with disaster relief efforts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He has 20 years experience in disaster response and is an Island Innovation Ambassador. His island Bequia is the closest of the Grenadine islands to St. Vincent and was and is heavily affected by the ash cloud from the recent eruptions of La Soufriere in St. Vincent. He explains to us how he experienced the eruptions and ash cloud and how this is the first natural disaster that scared him. He also reports on what has been happening on St. Vincent and Bequia. Lastly he goes into detail on what type of help the people of St. Vincent will need to recover from these eruptions. We accompanied the interview with videos and photos from the region to paint a clearer picture.

Ways to donate:

Dr. Ashleys Non profit Constructive Solution Inc., which is coordinating immediate distribution to affected citizens in St. Vincent

Bank transfer to Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Account General-Disaster Relief fund:

Banking Information for Disaster Relief

Island Innovation page on the Volcanic Eruption with up to date information and further options to donate:

More about our guest Dr. Ashley John

To see videos and pictures head to our youtube channel and watch the interview there: https://youtu.be/bOfXRGUunBo         

Our guest today is Stacey Alvarez, a digital sales manager, legal  assistant, educational consultant and Island Innovation Ambassador from  Barbados. Her island was and is heavily affected by the ash cloud from  the recent eruptions of La Soufriere in St. Vincent. She tells us about  the weekend when the island was wrapped in darkness and about the  effects the ash has on people’s health and their daily lives. We  accompanied the interview with videos and photos from the region to  paint a clearer picture.

The impact of the volcanic eruption is of course felt much harder on  St. Vincent and we touch on what is happening there as well. We will  cover this in more detail in our next bonus episode. If you would like  to support the people of St. Vincent then Stacey suggests to support  grassroots NGOs as well as Government organizations. [recorded  13.04.2021]

Watch Now! Listen Now!

Ways to donate:

Constructive Solution Inc. non-profit who is coordinating immediate distribution to affected citizens in St. Vincent: https://tinyurl.com/7pkypx8c

Bank transfer to Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Account General-Disaster Relief fund: Banking Information for Disaster Relief (www.gov.vc)

Island Innovation page on the Volcanic Eruption with up to date information and further options to donate: https://islandinnovation.co/saint-vincent-volcanic-eruption/

Stacey’s linked in profile where she will post ways to donate as they emerge: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacey-alvarez-de-la-campa-ba-hons-llb-16a275147/

*The Sargassum Podcast and MCB are not affiliated with any of organizations raising funds for disaster relief.

E14: Conserving an incredible ecosystem with Teresa Mackey and Dr David Freestone of the Sargasso Sea Commission

The Sargasso Sea Commission was established in 2014 with the goal of conserving the Sargasso Sea. Ms. Teresa Mackey is the Programme Manager of the Sargasso Sea Commission and has been working with it since 2017. Dr. David Freestone is the Executive Secretary of the Sargasso Sea Commission.He is Visiting Scholar and Professorial Lecturer at The George Washington University Law School in Washington D.C. He has written widely on the Law of the Sea and international environmental law, and is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law. The Sargasso Sea – on which their project is based  is an incredible diverse ecosystem, also called the golden floating rainforest of the Atlantic.

- Species that use Sargassum as a habitat in the open ocean ( 8:10)

- Location of the Sargasso Sea ( 9:30)

- UN was looking into protecting or conserving areas in the high seas beyond national jurisdictions and the Sargasso Sea Project was designed to show how important it was to do this  (11:30)

- The role of the Sargasso Sea Commission (13:10)

- The Northwest Atlantic Fishery Organization  has closed off all the seamounts in the Sargasso Sea to bottom trawling and to use of gear that might touch the bottom (18:00)

- The Commission received the first high seas ecosystem grant to put forward a strategic action programme for the conservation of the Sargasso Sea(18:30)

- The negative connotations with Sargassum linked to the inundations in the Caribbean made it difficult to convince people to protect the Sargasso Sea (19:45)

- The Sargasso Sea Commission isn’t directly involved in work concerning the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt but supports efforts to minimize negative effects on coastal ecosystems and communities (21:45, 27:35)

- The Commission is worried that more Sargassum natans VIII might  arrive in the Sargasso Sea from the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt and is monitoring for this (25:45)

- Will there likely be laws around which country owns Sargassum as a resource? (29:40)

- International collaboration in early warning systems (31:40)

- Nutrient added Sargassum growth (e.g. for carbon sequestration) should not be tried in the Sargasso Sea (34:30)

- Benefits of Sargassum for beach nourishment in Bermuda (36:32)

- How can we make a legal framework similar to the UNFCCC for Sargassum ?(38:30, 42:25)

Learn more about the Sargasso Sea Commission:

֍ Website

֍Useful information on the Atlantic Sargassum Belt

֍ Facebook

֍ Twitter

֍ Instagram

֍ LinkedIn

֍ Nonsuch expeditions Sargasso Sea

Sargassum podcast [email protected], facebook, twitter, Instagram, linkedin.

Become one of our patrons

En este episodio hablamos con Deemian Vera  y Dagoberto Ruiz de la empresa mexicana de ingeniería marítima Dakatso. Demian nos habla de las barreras anti-sargazo, los botes de recolección del sargazo y su último producto: el “sargcreto”. Para ellos sargazo es un gran problema cuando llega a las playas de México, pero a la vez es una gran oportunidad como empresa para poder aportar su granito de arena en la búsqueda de soluciones a estas inundaciones. Por eso crearon el Proyecto GIS para la Gestión Integral del Sargazo. Si quieres saber más sobre cómo prevenir las arribazones de sargazo y aprovechar el sargazo recolectado, escucha nuestro último episodio.

Escucha el episodio para aprender sobre:

(For the editing: We had to restart the interview, so it starts in min 3:38 and in min 4:34 we need to cut a few seconds)

- Presentaciones (0:35 )

- Introducción de la empresa Mexicana Dakatso (2:13)

- Que es Sargazo para Deemian de Dakatso (2:51)

- Como la empresa empezó a trabajar con el sargazo (3:40)

- Importancia de recoger el sargazo en cuanto antes al llegar en las playas (5:15)

- Presentación del plan de Gestión Integral del Sargazo, proyecto GIS : Contención, recolección, disposición, industrialización (5:38)

- El proceso final del proyecto GIS, el concreto (hormigón) “Sargcreto” (10:00)

- Los barcos de recolección y el desarrollo del proceso de recolección en mar (11:45)

- Donde llevan el sargazo una vez en tierra y con quien trabajan (15:18)

- Tiempo de vida de las barreras y mantenimiento (16:30)

- Las diferentes aplicaciones del sargazo triturado (21:17)

- La red neuronal para monitorizar el sargazo: drones y satélites (22:58)

- La barrera más larga de Dakatso (25:42)

- Estudios previos para diseñar la barrera (26:51)

- Intervención de Dagoberto y agradecimientos (28:32)

- Charla sobre lo aprendido durante la entrevista entre Mar y Clio (31:07)

Si quieres saber más sobre los proyectos de Dakatso, aquí tienes los links a su empresa:

https://www.dakatso.com.mx

https://flow.page/grupodakatso Si quieres ponerte en contacto con nosotros mándanos un e-mail a [email protected] o conecta con nosotros a través de las redes sociales facebook, twitter, Instagram, linkedin.  Quieres más? Conviértete en uno de nuestros patrocinadores desde 1 USD al mes! https://www.patreon.com/theSargassumP...De esta forma podrás participar en nuestra “happy hour” mensual con los entrevistados en nuestro podcast y otros fans de sargazo. Agradecemos enormemente cualquier apoyo y estamos deseando conectar con todos ustedes!  Te gusta nuestra música? La canción se llama: “Them Ah Pree” de Drizzle Roadranna. Síguele en Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/03bre2kTFwQjUIhn7E956s y youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCyK...