Miguel Ceara Hatton.
Santo Domingo, Feb 25.- The economic and social impact of sargassum and the problems it poses for the coastal environment, tourism and human health have led the Ministry of Tourism to create a working group in which different sectors and institutions will intervene to deal with this phenomenon.
Thus, and through the Vice Ministry of Coastal and Marine Resources, the institution set up this Friday the “Multisectoral Table for the Integral Management of Sargassum” with the aim of developing and applying actions to protect marine ecosystems from the harmful effects of this type of algae.
Minister Miguel Ceara Hatton, who heads the table, pointed out that the expansion of sargassum has been generated, directly and indirectly, by “aquatic fertilization, climate change, inappropriate land use and ocean acidification”, creating an imbalance to which one must respond “with special handling”.
In that order, he indicated that in recent years large masses of marine algae, mainly of the Sargassum genus, have arrived on the coasts of the Caribbean Sea, preventing bathers, fishermen and boats from making free use of the coast.
Faced with these arrivals that affect the waters of the Caribbean, the Environment wants to promote a proposal at the regional level, explained the Vice Minister of Coastal and Marine Resources, José Ramón Reyes.
In his speech, he was convinced that the academic community, innovators, the Ministry of Tourism, hotel groups, businessmen and investors “will provide knowledge and solutions for the use, management, regulations, applied science and technology (…) to promote management alternatives for these algae”.
A priority axis of the table is the creation of a comprehensive and sustainable management plan for sargassum that allows the application of short, medium and long-term strategies, aimed at preventing the algae from continuing to reach the coasts in large numbers in order to mitigate its negative effects.
The table is made up of representatives of the public and private sectors, as well as academics, entrepreneurs and innovators, hotel groups, businessmen, investors in the coastal zone, local communities and users of the resource, among other interested sectors.
In addition, the initiative has the support of the Ministries of Economy, Tourism, Public Health, and Higher Education, Science and Technology, as well as the Navy of the Dominican Republic and the National Office of Industrial Property, among others. other entities.
Sargassum (Sargassum spp.) is a floating macroalgae that forms colonies that cover large areas and that move according to ocean currents.
In addition, these algae have structures and components that allow them to float en masse in the sea, move in shallow waters and end up on beaches. EFE
