BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – A UK-based ocean farming company is providing the technology to transform the Caribbean’s sargassum seaweed problem into a sustainable business.
If the project succeeds, it could provide a long-awaited solution to the region’s tourism, which has suffered due to the seaweed’s yearly presence.
UK company Seafields Solutions Ltd has teamed up with Private Refuse and Garbage Disposal (PRGD) in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) to launch the second phase of a Sargassum Beach Cleanup Project.
The World Bank and the OECS are funding the project and will run from September 2025 to April 2026.
Seafields will provide ocean-harvesting technology, while PRGD will provide cleanup services as they work to convert sargassum into products such as bio-stimulants and biochar for agricultural use. The project is expected to create jobs and new revenue streams for communities in SVG.
Seafields CEO John Auckland said the goal is to prove that sargassum can be “transformed from a costly environmental burden into a valuable resource,” laying the groundwork for long-term commercialisation.
News of the new investment to tackle sargassum comes amid mass hotel cancellations in the region and a loss of income for fishing communities, as countries have spent valuable resources to rid their coastlines of the seaweed.
If the pilot in St Vincent and the Grenadines succeeds, its model could be exported to other territories, offering a potential blueprint to tackle the seaweed crisis while building a stake in the region’s growing blue economy.
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