Dr. Mar Fernández-Méndez and Dr. Miriam Philippi are researching the free-swimming brown alga Sargassum (Gulf kelp), which forms the annually recurring “great Atlantic Sargassum belt” with its mass blooms and is considered the largest algal bloom in the world, stretching from West Africa to the Caribbean. The two Sargassum species, S. natans and S. fluitans, occur exclusively as free-swimming algae, which makes them unique among large algae. The algae researchers of the German Botanical Society have therefore named Sargassum Algae of the Year 2024. In the open ocean, natural Sargassum patches are an important spawning, breeding and refuge site for numerous fishes, turtles and other marine animals, but when they are washed ashore, they cause problems for coastal ecosystems as they deprive the organisms living among them of sunlight and produce harmful gases when they decompose on the beach. 

Sargassum is very efficient at absorbing carbon and requires comparatively few nutrients for rapid growth. This has recently sparked scientific and commercial interest in the algae's potential for innovations in the field of the “blue bioeconomy”. The AWI research group led by Dr. Fernández-Méndez is investigating the carbon and nutrient cycles of these mass blooms and their function as a diverse habitat by means of sampling, growth experiments and aerial monitoring with drones on site in Mexico and on the Caribbean islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as through analyses and modeling in the laboratory in Bremerhaven. Another focus of the research is the question of how algae biomass can be used to replace petroleum-based products.

27. August 2023

In this video, Dr. Franziska Elmer and Dr. Miriam Philippi explain how sargassum can be used for carbon dioxide removal. The video includes the results of a survey Miriam conducted on this topic with locals in Mexico, Quintana Roo, as well as expert opinions on the subject. 
The experts who participated in this video are:
- Mar Fernández Méndez, group leader at the Alfred Wegener Institute and co-founder of Macrocarbon
www.awi.de/en/about-us/organi...
www.macrocarbon.world
- Duncan Smallman, founding scientist of Seaweed Generation
www.seaweedgeneration.com
- Nikhil Neelakantan, Program Director of Ocean Visions Launch pad
oceanvisions.org
- Alison Myers, Managing Director of Fearless Fund
www.fearlessfund.org
- Eelco Leemans, owner of Leeways Marine and head of oceans at Climate Clean up
climatecleanup.org

This video was produced as part of the Sargassum Master Class, which is part of the RESEMBID-funded project Novel Education Tools to Foster Local Ecosystem Sustainability Practices.  Funded by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France - the French government's development cooperation agency - RESEMBID is a 48-project program that supports sustainable human development efforts in 12 Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) - Aruba, Anguilla, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Montserrat, Saba, Sint Eustatius, St. Barthélemy, Sint Maarten and Turks and Caicos Islands.