NOAA’s Southeast and Caribbean Regional Team (SECART) is one of eight regional collaboration teams focused on coordinating and facilitating collaborations across NOAA’s line offices and partners to improve services provided to communities within the region. 

Many parts of NOAA handle coordination, forecasting, management, research, and disaster preparedness around harmful algal blooms, including Sargassum. SECART worked with NOAA and partners to develop a series of products to help communities better understand NOAA’s role in Sargassum management.

Want to learn more about Sargassum? You can find more information here on the National Ocean Service’s website.

 In summer 2025, SECART also hosted a five-part public webinar series that walked audiences through the full “life cycle” of Sargassum, from its benefits as offshore habitat to its challenges as a nearshore harmful algal bloom. View descriptions and recordings of all the webinars here.

Nearshore Sargassum Management: Policy Analysis and Agency Gaps Assessment

This document identifies NOAA’s policies for Sargassum management across the United States and territories, and provides consolidated reference material to support management and accelerate policy development. The assessment summarizes Sargassum ecology, distribution, and onshore impacts; reviews U.S. legal designations; describes existing NOAA efforts; and identifies gaps in the current legal and agency framework. It also underscores the uncertainty around when and how Sargassum shifts from a nearshore habitat to a harmful threat, highlighting the need for a cautious approach to response, mitigation, and clean-up.

Vital, V., Brown, M., Galloway, J., Egan, K., and Martinez, F. (September 2024) Nearshore Sargassum Management: Policy Analysis and Agency Gaps Assessment offsite link. U.S. Dept of Commerce. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Sargassum Inundation Event Disaster Guide

This guide is designed to improve coordination of NOAA’s expertise, services, and resources for Sargassum inundation events, and to clarify NOAA’s roles and responsibilities in preparedness, response, and recovery. It includes contact information for NOAA line offices involved in managing Sargassum-related incidents. The guide is available in both English and Spanish.

NOAA Southeast and Caribbean Regional Team (SECART) (August 2025) Sargassum Inundation Events (SIE) Addendum for the Guide to Integrated NOAA Disaster Resilience in the Southeast and Caribbean Version 2. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. View the Sargassum addendum to the Guide here.

Equipo Regional de la NOAA del Sureste y Caribe (SECART) (agosto de 2025) Anexo de los Eventos de Inundación de Sargazo (SIE) para la Guía de Resiliencia Integrada ante Desastres de la NOAA en el Sureste y Caribe Version 2. Administración Nacional de Oceánica y Atmósfera. Consulte aquí el apéndice sobre el sargazo de la Guía.

2025 Sargassum Workshop: Assessing Knowledge Gaps for Effective Management

From May 19-21, 2025, NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and SECART convened a virtual workshop to identify research gaps that could better inform Sargassum research and management strategies. The purpose of the workshop was to develop information that will assist NOAA and other federal, state, and local agencies in their strategic planning and research prioritization for addressing Sargassum.

The workshop was structured around the three themes: improving observations and monitoring; understanding socioeconomic or ecological impacts; and determining best management practices to safeguard coastal environments. Five teams composed of experts across sectors were established to summarize available information and research gaps, which were presented at the workshop. 

Findings and discussion points from this workshop will be synthesized into a forthcoming Research Strategy document. The Research Strategy will establish science priorities to guide Sargassum research and inform management decisions.

Workshop report:

Brown M, Martinez F, Arzayus F, Carrubba L, Egan K, Galloway J, Hernandez F, Lapointe B, León-Pérez MC, Stoffle B, Trinanes J (2025) Workshop Report: Assessing Sargassum Knowledge Gaps for Effective Management, May 19-21, 2025 [virtual workshop report]. U.S. Department of Commerce. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. https://doi.org/10.25923/rk3r-wd43 offsite link

Presentations from the subtheme teams: 

• Observation and prediction of SIEs
  • Subtheme 1.1: Ocean and nearshore transport (e.g., seasonality, micro-currents)
  • Subtheme 1.2: Bloom drivers (e.g., nutrients, intensity)
• Socioeconomic and ecological impacts of SIEs
  • Subtheme 2.1: Physical, chemical, and biological (e.g., essential fish habitat, shading, choking, eutrophication, toxicity)
  • Subtheme 2.2.: Social, cultural, economic, and human health (e.g., tourism, costs, beach access)
• Prevention, mitigation, and clean-up of SIEs
  • Subthemes 3.1 and 3.2: Offshore interdiction (e.g., harvesting, redirection, ecological impacts, permitting/regulatory requirements) and onshore processing (e.g., removal, erosion, ecological impacts, safety and protection of workers, permitting/regulatory requirements)

Overview of the Regulatory Framework for Strategies for Management of Sargassum Inundation Events in the United States

Stemming from the 2025 Sargassum Workshop, this guide discusses various strategies for managing Sargassum inundation events (SIEs) in the water and on land and describes the general regulatory framework, particularly federal requirements that apply across jurisdictions. The location of Sargassum management activities landward or seaward of the mean high-water line often determines the extent of federal jurisdiction, as well as appropriate state/territorial and local requirements. As part of the description of the regulatory requirements for strategies for managing Sargassum in the water and on land, this guide also presents examples of actions that have been completed or are ongoing in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Carrubba L, León-Pérez MC, Krimsky L, Bisonó-León A, Dale D, Benjamin AM, Dempsey A, Martínez-Ortiz J, Colón-Rivera R (December 2025) Overview of the Regulatory Framework for Strategies for Management of Sargassum Inundation Events in the United States [White paper]. View the white paper here.