Sargassum: The Caribbean’s Worst Houseguest

Sargassum is the Caribbean’s worst houseguest. She arrives uninvited. Brings a few million friends. Takes over the beach. Attracts an entire squadron of tiny flying freeloaders. Starts producing some seriously questionable gases. Gets under your skin… quite literally. And then leaves you with the bill - a very large bill. Across the Caribbean, hotels, communities and governments spend millions every year cleaning up after this unwanted visitor. And the worst part? She keeps coming back, bringing more of her unwanted friends every time. So perhaps it’s time to try a different approach. If your unwanted guest refuses to leave, maybe it’s time to welcome her with open arms and figure out what she can contribute to the household. Because Sargassum doesn’t arrive completely empty-handed. Inside all that brown biomass are alginate, fucoidan, cellulose, minerals and other components with potential applications across agriculture, biomaterials, cosmetics and biotechnology. So we have decided to give her a room of her own, but there are a few issues to sort out. Our guest is salty, brings sand everywhere, seems to have a particular taste for heavy metal, and her quality can be unpredictable. So yes, some house rules are needed. And not every household needs the same rules. What makes sense depends on where she arrives, how much arrives, how she is collected, what infrastructure is available, and what you ultimately want to do with her. Collection, cleaning, contaminant reduction and proper processing all matter if we want to turn this difficult visitor into a useful resource. At Thalasso AS, that’s how we prefer to look at it. Sargassum is going to keep showing up whether the Caribbean invites her or not. So rather than spending millions every year trying to throw her out… maybe it’s time we welcomed her with open arms and made her pay the overdue rent.