Second Webinar: The Science of Sargassum

What is Sargassum is? Where is it coming from? Today I was invited by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO to attend the 2nd Webinar about Sargassum in the Caribbean and West Africa. In this online meeting with up to three hundred experts worldwide, we discussed topics like: What is Sargassum? Where is it coming … Read more

Tourism to the Caribbean hammered by COVID-19 – What is the outlook for Jamaica?

Since the coronavirus keeps tourists at home, countries in the Caribbean region have to expect an economic decline in tourism. A new report (Extreme Outlier: The Pandemic’s Unprecedented Shock to Tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean) by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on Wednesday, July 1, 2020 estimates that some of the most tourism-dependent economies … Read more

COVID-19 is not stopping the Sargassum invasion

Since 2012/13, we have been battling seaweed named Sargassum in the Caribbean. While Sargassum is a normal part of ocean life, and an important habitat, the warmer waters produced by climate change allow it to proliferate at an explosive rate. Appearing in such vast quantities, Sargassum quickly turns dangerous. Aggregations of Sargassum can block the … Read more

20 percent of the ocean floor is mapped

Based on an article on the BBC web site around 20 percent of the ocean floor is mapped. The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project was launched in 2017. Three years ago only 6% of the global ocean bottom had been surveyed. Today the figure is at 19%, up from 15% in just the last year. … Read more

R/V CMU TAGU Tour: Navigation Equipment

The R/V CMU TAGU is a donation by the German civil and hydraulic engineering company TAGU, a part of LUDWIG FREYTAG Group, donated to us in summer 2019. We sailed the CMU TAGU from Montego Bay to the jetty at the CMU main campus in September 2019. The Research vessel (R/V) is equipped with all … Read more

New report of The Economist Group World Ocean Initiative

The Economist Group’s World Ocean Initiative published on the occasion of World Oceans Day, June 8, 2020. The report “A sustainable ocean in 2030: Opportunities and Challenges.” assesses the challenges facing key sectors, including seafood, shipping, tourism and renewable energy. See here the nine chapters and their main topic. 1. The blue economy and covid-19 The … Read more

R/V CMU TAGU Tour: Survey equipment

The CMU TAGU has all modern technical equipment necessary for safe operation on the high seas. As a special research vessel, the vessel is equipped with modern appliances for hydrographic surveys (for example, with a state-of-the-art Multi Beam Echo Sound EM 3002 by KONGSBERG). Hydrographical surveys are a domain of CMU TAGU. The installed sensors … Read more

Is the Blue Economy losing its conceptual independence?

A sustainable ocean economy in 2030? The report “A sustainable ocean in 2030: Opportunities and challenges.” of the World Ocean Initiative assesses the challenges facing key sectors, including seafood, shipping, tourism and renewable energy. Is the Blue Economy losing its conceptual independence? It is interesting to see how the concept of the Blue Economy, apparently … Read more

2020 EU Blue Economy Report

On June 11, 2020 the European Commission published “The EU Blue Economy Report 2020”, providing an overview of the performance of the EU economic sectors related to oceans and the coastal environment. The EU Blue Economy Report defines the area of Blue Economy of all activities that are marine- based or marine-related. Therefore, the EU Blue Economy … Read more