Abstract
The recent periodic influx of massive quantities of pelagic Sargassum spp. (sargasso) into the Caribbean has posed ecological, social, and economic challenges to the region. Sustainable use of the biomass is crucial to mitigate negative impacts of beached algae. The current uses of sargasso in Mexico are reviewed, and a biorefinery approach is proposed to optimize its commercialization. The commercialization potential of sargasso in the Mexican Caribbean is analyzed using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. The unpredictability of the influx to the Mexican shores is considerable, both in time and space, also, some areas receive consistently more sargasso than others. The lack of available technology, local infrastructure and regulations concerning sargasso are relevant, as is the urgent need to establish proper regulatory measures. In the context of the Mexican legal system, the category “special waste” can best be applied to sargasso that is collected from the beach or nearshore waters for the purpose of regulation. Lessons learnt from in Mexico may be applied elsewhere, with adaptations for each specific location. More importantly, mutual understanding of the constraints and possibilities of sargasso management in other countries, or territories, may facilitate the coordinated management of this transboundary macroalgae bloom.
Highlights
Mexico has an Exclusive Marine Economic Zone of 3.15 million km2 (Silva et al, 2014)
Bioprospecting, i.e., the systematic search for natural components or organisms for the development of products, with applications in the pharmaceutical, biotechnological, agronomical, cosmetic, or bioremediation industries (Bhatia and Chugh, 2015), is amongst the economic activities in this zone. Such bioprospecting has been carried out on sixteen seaweed species found along the Mexican Atlantic coast (Ortega et al, 2001); pelagic Sargassum spp. were not amongst them; as until 2014, its landings were sporadic, and of low to
The total estimated biomass in this new area of sargasso concentration was small at first, it has increased over the years, reaching a maximum of 20 million wet tons of seaweed in June 2018 (Wang et al, 2019; see Figure 1)
Summary
Mexico has an Exclusive Marine Economic Zone of 3.15 million km (Silva et al, 2014). This part of the coastline which receiving most sargasso represents ≈20% of the coastline, with a length of ≈90 km. In Mexico today, the Salgax (2019) and Sarganico (2021) companies make various paper and cardboard products from sargasso
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