FOODS FROM SARGASSUM SEAWEED

 

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Cleaning up the beaches at Cuncum, Gulf of Mexico

 

 

AUGUST 2022 - Climate change is causing misery in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, with the Sargasso Sea producing colossal sargassum blooms of 22 millions tons this year, an increase over 18 million tons in 2021. It would take a fleet of 300 specially adapted SeaVax machines, operating at a speed of one load per hour, to deal with such quantities. Clearly, that is not going to happen, where (by way of example) the world would not pay to clean the ocean of plastic, using equivalent fleets. The only sparkle on the brown tinged horizon is that sargassum can be a cash crop. Even so, the sums being bandied about don't come close to managing this crisis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sargassum has been at crisis levels for several years, but only recently have the Island nations affected by what amounts to a plague, put that stamp on the problem. Island Nations dependent on tourist dollars, to include the Gulf of Mexico coastal towns and cities, have been hit with beaches of decomposing sargassum, smelling of rotten eggs, attracting flies, causing ecological mayhem and potential health hazards. Hardly alluring for holiday makers, as they book their hotels in a formerly paradise location.

 

With an efficient method of harvesting the floating seaweed, there is potential to turn a nuisance into opportunity.

 

Sargassum helps in making food products which has their own nutritive value and composition. These products are prepared under hygienic conditions; it can be served as soups, salads, veggies, curries and many more. Gel form: Sargassum is also used as a gel form. This gel is used for the manufacturing of agricultural products. Snacks form: Sargassum is also available in snacks form. Different flavors of seaweed snacks are available online. It could be either in chips, nuggets, and sushi or in rice form. 

Sargassum is especially rich in sodium alginate, a polysaccharide that is often used as a thickener in food products (tomato ketchup). Sargassum is used for making agar which is obtained from several species. They are used in several ways for example, in preparation of jellies, ice cream, and other desserts. 

Sargassum is also used as food supplements, pills, seafood, rice, sauce, curries, vegetables, soups, and seasonings.

You can use sargassum products as manures for plantations. It may help you in better yielding of plants in kitchen gardens, for organic veggetables and fruits.

Different minerals like calcium, zinc, phosphorus, sodium, copper, etc are the main nutritive constituents of the body. The daily intake of iron, zinc helps in controlling anemia, high menstrual loss, and pregnancy.

Sargassum also contains essential amino acids like arginine, leucine, valine, tryptophan, lysine, etc.

Sargassum is enriched with vitamins. Different vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K help in different ways. It may help in maintaining healthy bones, tissues, eye health, and healthy skin. 

Managed effectively, it may be possible to reduce the negative impact of sargassum and even benefit from this environmental nuisance.

 

The main brown algal cell wall polysaccharide in Sargassum is alginate, a valuable hydrocolloid that accounts for up to 40% of its dry weight (Jung et al., 2013). Alginate is water-soluble, biodegradable, non-toxic, and non-irritant. It is composed of linear binary copolymers of (1,4)-linked β-D-mannuronic acid (M) and α-L-guluronic acid (G) monomers. Sodium alginate is currently broadly used in the biomedical, cosmetic, textile, pharmaceutical, and food industries. Previous uses are due to its rheological properties, biodegradability, and ability to generate films (Hasnain et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2021). There is also a growing interest in using alginate as a low-priced protein source, smart small molecule delivery vehicles, films for bioremediation of heavy metal ions, and biomaterials for tissue reconstruction (Mohammed et al., 2020). As such, extraction of this alginate can be an important source of a value-added product from Sargassum that would improve the economics of biorefinery conversion.

The extraction of sodium alginate has been examined in the literature. Mohammed et al. (2020) achieved a 28% crude yield after two extraction stages and a purity of 92% for sodium alginate extracted from Sargassum seaweed in the Caribbean. Ardalan et al. (2018) concluded that sodium alginate yield obtained from algae harvested during the summer was 9% higher (as compared to the winter harvest). The team worked with Sargassum angustifolium and unveiled that alginate extraction acted as a pretreatment of sorts for bioethanol production, yielding better results than fermentation that used the raw biomass directly. Flórez-Fernández et al. (2021) worked with Sargassum muticum and concluded that alginate-free Sargassum showed better susceptibility to anaerobic digestion than raw algae. Fenoradosoa et al. (2010) highlighted the relevance of the ratio between β-D-mannuronic acid and α-L-guluronic acid (M/G) in alginate. Analysis using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and High-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC) can be used to determine the M/G ratio, which influences the properties of alginate gels (Fenoradosoa et al., 2010).

 

LINKS

 

https://

 

 

 

 

SeaVax-Calypso™  &  AmphiMax-Calypso™                    SeaVax-Sargasso™  &   AmphiMax-Sargasso


 

 

 

UNEP - UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME

 

While 2020 was relatively mild in terms of sargassum volumes, and a global pandemic became the overarching worry, 2018 was record breaking in terms of sargassum volumes reaching Caribbean shores and 2019 was also significant.

 

Floating sargassum should not be construed as negative in and of itself – it is beneficial at sea, mainly as a unique pelagic habitat. 

However, the mass stranding of sargassum on coastlines has significant negative impacts (biophysical and socio-economic), particularly on coastal communities and livelihoods, public health, tourism and fisheries. This issue therefore represents an 
emerging hazard for a region that is already subject to numerous hazards. Indeed, various countries in the Caribbean have declared national states of emergency with respect to sargassum influxes (Desrochers et al. 2020).

The issue is however not confined to the Caribbean Sea, but it extends across the Tropical Atlantic, including equatorial Brazil as well as coastal West Africa from Sierra Leone through the Gulf of Guinea. Sargassum influxes are very much a multi-regional transboundary issue, demanding coordination and collaboration within and across impacted regions. 

HEAVY MACHINERY

A secondary, avoidable negative impact of the influxes relates to the use of heavy machinery to remove massive Sargassum landings, which impacts beach habitats and tend to worsen the environmental harm. The use of heavy machinery causes compaction of beaches and kills organisms that live in the sand, such as ghost crabs and other sea creatures that keep a beach healthy by creating hundreds of holes that keep the beach ventilated. Driving with heavy equipment will not only crush them, but also kills any potential sea turtle nests. Another impact is the removal of vast quantities of sand, resulting in unintentional sand mining, and ends up affecting the entire beach ecosystem.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Sargassum influxes negatively impact human well-being, activities, and livelihoods as well as major sectors of Caribbean Economies. Key sectors impacted include: coastal living and livelihoods, marine transport/ navigation, public health, fisheries and tourism. These impacts are inter-related, with many stemming from one of the key drivers of biophysical impacts – the decay of the sargassum biomass. 

 

The production of hydrogen sulphide negatively impacts air quality, results in very unpleasant odours, and prolonged exposure is unhealthy, especially for persons with underlying respiratory conditions. This is detrimental for coastal residents and beach users, whether local or visitors. Beach users who live elsewhere have the option to avoid impacted locations, while residents may be unable to avoid prolonged exposure. 

 

Large quantities of sargassum also spoil the aesthetic appeal of Caribbean beaches, and inhibit access to nearshore waters. Both issues affect residents, local beach users and tourists, while the latter particularly impacts those whose livelihoods rely on the sea, such as fishers who may need to access the water to access their equipment and/or livelihood.

DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY

When stranded in coastal areas, the sargassum itself dies, and many of the negative impacts originate with its decay. Given the scale and extent of the negative impacts these influx events may be characterized as a recurring hazard. The unprecedented scale of the Sargassum influxes also led to declaration of emergency conditions in several Caribbean countries e.g. Tobago in 2015, Barbados in 2018, and Mexico in 2019 (Chavez et al. 2020).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OCEAN CLEANING DRONE - As seen above, SeaVax is not suitable for harvesting sargassum in voluminous quantities. But the concept, or the equivalent, may be adapted (or specialliy developed) for the task. You'd still need autonomous fleet control, satellite comms and ocean current geodata, solar assistance and a capacious holding tank. But, the harvesting mechanics are different, as is the pickup head and transfer arrangements. Also assuming 24 hour operations, and factory ships to treat the recovered asset, for distribution across the globe. Then there is carbon sequestration. But who would pay for that? Nobody in power - that's for sure. It's all about the money for them- and they want a free lunch!

 

It would take a fleet of 300 specially adapted SeaVax machines, operating at a speed of one load per hour, to deal with 22 million tons of biological material. From our experience where we asked for funding to clean the ocean of plastic, it will be a massive uphill struggle - with fruitless lobbying efforts - to match the non-progress at Climate Conferences (FLOPS). It will take a working lifetime, unless, the problem becomes so great, that government react as if they were at war. And it is a war. Make no mistake. It's a struggle for the survival of our great grand children. We cannot stop our children suffering, because of corruption and irresponsible fossil fuel companies. We are too late for that, but with more Great Thunberg's, we might save the human race.

 

The sparkle on the newly brown tinged horizon is that sargassum can be a cash crop. Even so, the sums being bandied about don't come close to managing this crisis. What they need is a miracle, dealing with the root cause, which is warming of the oceans from climate change. Sadly, the cure for rising sea temperates is a million miles away, with present G20 policy stagnation - that stinks - like the hydrogen sulfide from rotting seaweed.

 

 

 

CARIBBEAN ISLANDS BY POPULATION

 

 Cuba 11,252,999 
 Haiti 11,263,077 (Hispaniola)
 Dominican Republic 10,766,998 (Hispaniola)
 Puerto Rico (US) 3,508,000 
 Jamaica 2,729,000 
 Trinidad and Tobago 1,357,000
 Guadeloupe (France) 405,000 
 Martinique (France) 383,000 
 Bahamas 379,000
10 Barbados 283,000
11 Saint Lucia 172,000 
12 Curaçao (Netherlands) 157,000
13 Aruba (Netherlands) 110,000 
14 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 110,000 
15 United States Virgin Islands 105,000 
16 Grenada 104,000 
17 Antigua and Barbuda 89,000 
18 Dominica 71,000
19 Cayman Islands (UK) 59,000 
20 Saint Kitts and Nevis 46,000 
21 Sint Maarten (Netherlands) 39,000 
22 Turks and Caicos Islands (UK) 37,000 
23 Saint Martin (France) 36,000 
24 British Virgin Islands (UK) 31,000 
25 Caribbean Netherlands 26,000 
26 Anguilla (UK) 14,000 
27 Saint Barthélemy (France) 10,000 
28 Montserrat (UK) 5,000

29 Tortuga 25,936

30 Roatán 110,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Governments might revise their policies, to most urgently curb global warming, hence ocean temperature rises that are causing the sargassum crisis. The is the root cause of the problem. Cleaning up the excess from the oceans and seas, is retrospective handling. That, unfortunately, it seems we will be lumbered with for at least 50 years hence.

 

 

  

 

CLIMATE RELATED SEAWEED BLOOMS IN THE SARGASSO SEA AND CAUSING HAVOC

 

 

 

 

 

JVH2 - Jules Verne Hydrogen Trophy - World Hydrogen Challenge

 

 

 

BIOMASS - BUILDING MATERIALS - CANCER - CLOTHING & SHOES - CO2 SEQUESTRATION - COSMETICS

FERTILIZERS - FOODS - MEDICINES - MINERALS - PACKAGING - SUPPLEMENTS - VITAMINS

 

 

 

 

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PROJECTS TO TACKLE THE SARGASSUM CRISIS, STEMMING FROM CLIMATE CHANGE AND ACID OCEANS