Saint Barthelemy

The island of Saint Barthelemy is a French overseas territory, located between the British Virgin Islands and Antigua and Barbuda, in the Caribbean Sea. While the municipalities in the overseas departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique are responsible for collecting and storing seaweed, in Saint Barthelemy, it is the territorial community that manages Sargassum. In 2018, Saint Barthelemy local authority collected more than 9,200 tons of Sargassum, at a cost of 1.48 million euros. A considerable amount for a community that struggles to manage massive events since its coasts are very exposed to groundings, and which has no choice but to store the algae on backshore sites or to incinerate it. In March 2022, the French government adopted a new interministerial plan for the period between 2022 and 2025, to support local authorities such as Saint Barthelemy sustainably. The “Sargassum Plan II” foresees combating Sargassum with several tens of millions of euros, part of which is dedicated to research (implemented in 2018 and reviewed in 2022). To forecast arrivals and Sargassum strandings in Saint Barthelemy, the DEAL (Department of the Environment, Planning and Housing) of the department of Guadeloupe issues forecast bulletins based on the study of satellite data. Météo France also publishes maps that help anticipate seaweed influxes.