After collecting 14,000 tonnes in 2024, Saint-Martin is doubling its budget to fight against sargassum seaweed. 14,000 tons... That's the volume of sargassum seaweed collected last year in Saint-Martin... A particularity this year is that the strandings, while not always massive, are continuous. The Collectivity is refining its efforts to combat the brown algae. Among the actions under consideration is a temporary evacuation plan in case of strong gas emissions.<\/p>\n
Sargassum seaweed is primarily affecting the east coast of Saint Martin. In Cul-de-Sac, the first strandings were observed as early as April, nearly five months earlier than usual. The volume of brown algae is significant, although no massive influx has yet been recorded.<\/p>\n
The algae collected from five different sites are transferred directly to a storage area, which had already received 14,000 tonnes last year.<\/p>\n
This way of working, combined with a notable resurgence of sargassum, has led to a doubling of the allocated budget, from 1.2 to 2.4 million euros.<\/p>\n
After a long period of deliberation, the decision to install deflecting nets to protect the coastline has been finalized. However, the 400 linear meters initially planned are no longer sufficient.<\/p>\n
Nine hundred meters of barriers would be needed to effectively protect Cul-de-Sac Bay, as well as the mouth of the pond aux Poissons, in order to prevent sargassum rafts from infiltrating there<\/i> ,explains Igor Rambotte, director of the environment for the community of Saint-Martin.<\/p>\n
The analysis of the bids is currently underway.\u00bb A tender commission should meet by the end of June. This will allow us, as a community, to launch the deployment of these dams by the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026<\/i> ,he adds.<\/p>\n
In parallel, surveillance cameras and toxic emission sensors are planned to allow for a real-time response. But the local authority, with the support of the state, is also anticipating an extreme scenario: one in which residents would be exposed for several days to a level of toxic gas exceeding health thresholds, due to the decomposition of sargassum seaweed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00bb We are working on developing a roadmap that could be triggered if these thresholds are exceeded, so that the population can benefit from temporary safe places while the emissions are absorbed<\/i> ,explains Igor Rambotte.<\/p>\n
Saint-Martin is now considered a model for sargassum management in the Caribbean. However, residents of the affected areas still have to contend with particularly unpleasant odors for much of the year.<\/p>\n
By\u00a0 Herv\u00e9 Pedurand<\/b><\/a>, Ronhy Malety<\/b><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":3247,"template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"class_list":["post-3246","news-post","type-news-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olioil.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-post\/3246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olioil.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-post"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olioil.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-post"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olioil.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olioil.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}