Thank you for your interest in the Sargassum Watch citizen science project. Your observations will help us gain a better understanding on how Sargassum is affecting our coastal areas.

What is Pelagic Sargassum?

Pelagic Sargassum (commonly referred to as 'sargasso') is a brown seaweed that usually spends most of its life offshore ('pelagic') before landing on beaches across the Caribbean and Florida. While pelagic Sargassum has always occurred in low amounts on beaches, massive influxes have piled onto those very beaches since 2011 onwards. Massive influxes and subsequent decomposition of sargasso would cause both ecological and socioeconomic impacts such that they have garnered international attention to monitor and forecast these massive influx events.

The science of pelagic sargassum has grown rapidly by the scientific community in recent years. Only recently has the term 'sargasso' been introduced to distinguish 'pelagic sargassum' from the other  >300 related species of sargassum. Additionally, your average field guide would refer to two species that represent pelagic sargassum, including Sargassum natans and Sargassum fluitans. Since those influxes however, there has been an additional division of species to 'morphotypes' based on their physical characteristics. 

How did the project start?

The Sargassum Watch citizen science project was first developed as doctoral candidate's project that quickly gained relevance among the sargassum-affected community in Florida and the Caribbean. Back in 2018, Ph.D Student Lowell Iporac (Major adviser Ligia Collado-Vides) developed the Sargassum Watch project using the open-source Epicollect5 App developed by the Imperial College of London.

The founding lab, the Marine Macroalgae Research Lab at Florida International University (MMRL-FIU), was and continues to be part of a larger network in the Caribbean Region dedicated to monitoring the invasions of pelagic Sargassum on Caribbean beaches. 

Where are we now?

While Lowell is no longer a Ph.D candidate at FIU, they continue to be involved with sargassum research, including the maintenance and improvement of the "Sargassum Watch" program. This project has been part of a greater international collaboration of academics and professionals studying the Sargassum phenomena in the Atlantic Caribbean Region. 

We are open to other organizations and professionals collecting and using our data. If you choose to use our data from Epicollect5, please send an email to Ph.D Lowell Iporac (lowell.ecology@gmail.com), and mention “Sargassum Watch” on the subject line.