After a year 2025 marked by a long period of strandings of holopelagic sargassum, already spanning nearly seven (7) months, the situation on the Guadeloupe coast is complicated.
The solutions implemented (mechanical shovels, sea collection from a barge, and floating barriers to divert or block the algae) appear to be increasingly ineffective and are not adapted to the volumes and frequencies of strandings, nor even to the particularly high sea water temperatures.
Concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and ammonia (NH₃) have been elevated for more than four months.
Dr. Jean-François was invited to this public conference. He was able to speak for a little over twenty minutes and answer questions from a relatively large audience, for a weekday meeting after 7 p.m. Dr. Dorville focused on the current limitations of dams and methods of reoxygenating water and Sargassum sludge to limit toxic gas emissions and mitigate risks to human health and the integrity of copper products, allowing time to better organize the management of stranded algae.
