ANR - Sargassum III joint call for projects

Since 2011, the coastal regions of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico have been confronted with massive strandings of Sargassum seaweed, the scale and persistence of which differ from previous waves. The degradation of the seaweed causes significant releases of ammonia and hydrogen sulphide, leading to the closure of beaches and the evacuation of coastal populations, leaving the regions concerned with a critical health, environmental and economic situation.

In response to this situation, as part of the National Plan to Prevent and Combat Sargassum, the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation has tasked the French National Research Agency (ANR) with supporting basic and applied research through the coordination of several joint calls for projects.

In 2019, a first joint call for projects Research, development and innovation SARGASSES with ADEME, the local authorities of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana, and the Brazilian agencies FAPESP and FACEPE, was launched with the aim of increasing our knowledge of the causes of these massive sargassum strandings and proposing solutions for managing these crises, which particularly affect the islands of the Caribbean basin.

In 2021, a second joint call for research projects with FACEPE (Brazil) and NWO (Netherlands) has been launched to understand and predict the proliferation of Sargasso.

The results of the winning projects from these two calls suggest the need to extend the research effort with a 3rd call for projects on the impact on human health, as well as for more in-depth studies on the products used to extract value from these brown algae.

This third call Sargassum is supported by the ANR and ADEME and has two main focuses:

• Valuation
• Human health

Date limite for submitting projects : 12 June 2025 à 17:00

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