Causes and impacts of massive accumulations of the brown macro-algae Sargassum in the nearshore environment of the Caribbean and West Africa

Lead: Peter Kershaw (United Kingdom)

Members: Jan Linders (Netherlands) others to be confirmed

Date Established: November 2016

End date: tbc

Mission: The initial focus of the Task Team will be to join SCOR-IOC GlobalHAB in organising an Open Science Meeting (OSM) on Sargassum. This will involve contacting the technical secretaries of the sponsoring agencies that have indicated an interest in this topic (IOC, UN Environment, FAO, UNDP, WMO, IAEA), and compiling an update of relevant activities undertaken in the period since the initial Scoping Report was presented to the 44th Session of GESAMP (document 44/7/2). It is intended that the results of the OSM will be published in some form (e.g. White Paper, peer-reviewed papers). This will form the basis for further discussion on GESAMP’s role as a mechanism in supporting and coordinating the work of the sponsoring agencies, with the potential to form a Working Group as appropriate.