Unprecedented amounts of seaweed which surfaced on Caribbean shores last year has seen the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) initiating a regional fact-finding study to document the impacts this phenomenon has been having on countries in the region since 2011.
The fact-finding survey is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
A release from the CRFM on Friday said that over the past seven years, massive Sargassum influxes have been having adverse impacts on national and regional economies in the Caribbean, with substantial loss of livelihoods and economic opportunities, primarily in the fisheries and tourism sectors.
