GULF OF GUINEA - NEW SARGASSO SEA

 

 

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SARGASSUM - The giant brown seaweed, having shown that it can spread from North to South Atlantic oceans, could spread to the Indian and Pacific oceans as a potentially invasive species. The proof of which (as a theory) is satellite pictures, and changing wind states. The spread witnessed here, could just as easily migrate between oceans, and thence to the bays and seas within those oceans.

 

 

 

 

 

We are concerned that with the oceans warming at a faster rate than predicted, and with the spill over of sargassum from the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic, to create an Atlantic Equatorial sargassum gyre, that it is almost inevitable, and we might expect to see a South Atlantic sargassum gyre in the not too distant future, in proportion to insolation, since photosynthesis is the propagator of plant life, and ocean conditioning, by way of nutrients and warmer waters.

 

If that comes to pass, and with the Indian and Pacific oceans also warming at the same rate as the Atlantic, so generating faster currents and winds; spillage around the horns could become a distinct possibility. In which case, the Bay of Bengal would be a prime contender for a micro sargassum gyre. Dependent on location current circulation conditions. Or at least may suffer a similar fate to the Caribbean Sea, where the islands/shores therein suffer beaches strewn with mounds of sargassum, to ruin fishing, tourism and marine ecology.

 

ABOUT THE GULF OF GUINEA

 

The Gulf of Guinea is the northeastern most part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the gulf.

Among the many rivers that drain into the Gulf of Guinea are the Niger and the Volta. The coastline on the gulf includes the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Bonny.

Different definitions of the geographic limits of the Gulf of Guinea are given; the International Hydrographic Organization defines the southwest extent of the Gulf of Guinea as "B line from Cap Lopez (0°37′S 8°43′E), in Gabon, northwestward to Ihléu Gago Coutinho (Ilhéu das Rôlas) (0°01′S 6°32′E); and thence a line from Ihléu Gago Coutinho northwestward to Cape Palmas (4°22′N 7°44′W), in Liberia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISLANDS IN THE GULF OF GUINEA

The Gulf of Guinea contains a number of islands, the largest of which are in a southwest-northeast chain, forming part of the Cameroon line of volcanoes.

- Annobón, also known as Pagalu or Pigalu, is an island that is part of Equatorial Guinea.

- Bobowasi Island is an island off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea that is part of the Western Region of Ghana.

- Bioko is an island off the Ambazonian region of Cameroon in the Gulf of Guinea under the sovereignty of Equatorial Guinea.

- Corisco is an island belonging to Equatorial Guinea.

- Elobey Grande and Elobey Chico are two small islands belonging to Equatorial Guinea.

- São Tomé and Príncipe (officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe) is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea that became independent from Portugal in 1975. It is located off the western equatorial coast of Africa and consists of two islands, São Tomé and Príncipe. They are located about 140 kilometres (87 mi) apart and about 250 and 225 kilometres (155 and 140 mi), respectively, off the northwestern coast of Gabon. Both islands are part of an extinct volcanic mountain range. São Tomé, the sizeable southern island, is situated just north of the Equator. 

MARITIME SECURITY: PIRACY, DRUGS, WEAPONS, HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea consists of 18 sovereign states. Multiple institutional mandates address maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea: The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). Additionally, maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea is also addressed by the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC). Maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea is characterised not only by piracy but by a myriad of maritime crimes despite piracy often dominating the conversation on maritime security. According to the ‘Priority Paper for the Danish Efforts to Combat Piracy and Other Types of Maritime Crime 2019-2022’ piracy and maritime crime are defined as follows:

Piracy can be defined as any illegal act of violence, detention or depredation committed for private ends at high seas against another ship or aircraft. Maritime crime may include armed robbery at sea, trafficking of humans or smuggling of illicit goods, drugs and weapons, illegal fishing, fuel theft and more.

The other notable crimes in the Gulf of Guinea are illegal fishing, kidnap for ransom, drug trafficking and oil-bunkering. Illegal oil-bunkering consists of the attacking of vessels transporting oil and transferring the oil to the thieves’ own vessel. After which the oil is sold in local and international markets.

Kidnapping for ransom is one of the most prevalent maritime crimes in the region. Between 2018 and 2019, the number of crew members that were kidnapped in the Gulf of Guinea increased by 50%, leading the region to account for 90% of global kidnappings at sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNESCO - IOC SUB COMMISSION FOR AFRICA & ADJACENT ISLAND STATES

Proposal To Set Up The Gulf Of Guinea Sargassum Network (GGSN)


The emergence of large quantities of invasive seaweed (Sargassum) along the Caribbean Islands, Gulf of Mexico and the West African coasts over the past decade is contributing to increased vulnerability in these regions. The floating seaweeds clogs fishing nets and engines, in some cases destroying them. When beached, seaweeds can pile up to over several meters and generate a pungent smell when decaying disrupting fishing and recreational activities. To effectively deal with the situation, there is the need to set up a regional network of stakeholders including researchers and policy makers in the West Africa sub-region (people in the sub-region identified for the network include Jacques Abe, Paul Abu Lamin, Komoe Koffi, Dogbè Clément Adjahouinou and Bolaji Dunsin Abimbola).

 

Such a network will facilitate promoting and operationalize a regional monitoring system as proposed by the Abidjan Convention. The network will also provide a platform for countries in the West African sub-region affected by sargassum to put together relevant research proposals for funding, influence policy decisions, organize workshops and conferences. It will also promote data sharing among affected countries which is critical for management. In addition, the network will facilitate exchange of ideas and capacity building by linking up with similar networks across the Atlantic Ocean particularly within the wider Caribbean Sea where the Sargassum is also commonly present.

The Teleconneted SARgassum risks across the Atlantic: building capacity for Transformational Adaptation in the Caribbean and West Africa (SARTRAC) project, which is a collaboration between University of Ghana, University of Southampton and University of West Indies has created a platform for fruitful interactions with scientists in the Caribbean.

For more information, please contact: Prof. Kwasi Appeaning Addo.

Associate Professor in Coastal Processes and Delta Studies
Director, Institute of Environment and Sanitation Studies (IESS)
University of Ghana

Email: KAppeaningAddo@ug.edu.gh_
Wev: http://iess.ug.edu.gh/

Or: Milcah Ndegwa
Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine
Environment from Land Based Activities (GPA)
Ecosystem Division
United Nations Environment (UNEP)
P.O. Box 30552 (00100)
Nairobi, Kenya

Tel. +254-(20)-762-5278
Email: milcah.ndegwa@un.org
Website: www.unep.org/gpa


IOC Sub Commission for Africa and the Adjacent Island States (IOCAFRICA)
UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa
P.O. Box 30592-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254 20 7621244
E. oceans.nairobi@unesco.org

 

 

SARGASSUM ORIGINS

 

The North Atlantic Sargasso Sea is where sargassum originates and was contained for hundreds of years, until climate change and intensive farming. But should the unthinkable happen, and the invasive species take hold in the South Atlantic, from whence to spread it's biological advantage, one can imagine the dire consequences, perhaps mirroring that now ruining the Caribbean Sea. Make no mistake, the consequences of climate change and intensive, fertilizer based farming, could become a deadly world contagion, to make other epidemics seem insignificant, in terms of potential human tragedy.

 

An animal has a means to exhaust toxic waste, essential for a healthy lifestyle. The oceans have nowhere to dump the excrement we dump in it. They just get more polluted. Except for sargassum piling onto the shores, telling us that we have reached the limit.

 

So, what are the chances of it happening? Could there be a Banda/Ceram/Molucca/Timor Sargasso Sea, or belt, where the present welcoming waters are turned into a cesspit of foul smelling rotten seaweeds, as they release hydrogen sulphide gas to choke visitors to their shores.

 

 

 

 

 

Pelagic Sargassum is a free-floating brown seaweed that blossoms naturally in the warm waters of the Sargasso Sea of the Northern Atlantic Ocean. The unprecedented recent invasion of Sargassum seaweed on coastal shores in West Africa and the Caribbean Sea is being attributed to factors that include warming of the ocean due to global climate change, discharge of macronutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus forms) from agricultural run-off and wastewater originating from point sources and from major river basins such as the Congo and Amazon Rivers, and the deposition of iron and nutrient-rich Saharan dust on the ocean.

The third webinar will take place on 22 September 2020 with focus on the West Africa region, where Sargassum is becoming a regional phenomenon, negatively impacting aquatic resources, fisheries, waterway, and shorelines. This webinar will feature leading experts from affected countries in the region (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo) local and international organizations working on marine and coastal biodiversity management to share information, build knowledge on the phenomenon, promote best practice and develop ocean governance arrangement in combating the Sargassum phenomenon in West Africa.

The event took place on Tuesday, 22 September 2020; 1600-1800 hours; East African time (UTC+3).

 

 

COMPUTER SIMULATIONS & CONTAINMENT DEVICES

 

That all depends on temperature rise of seawater, combined with nutrient supply, and circulating currents, including winds. All of which is measurable, for variable algorithmic computer simulations. As has been performed on the influx to the Caribbean Sea, via the equatorial Atlantic gyre, by scientists at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg's College of Marine Science, who used NASA satellite observations to discover and document the largest bloom of macroalgae. Others used Global Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model surface currents (HYCOM) (Chassignet et al., 2007) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis (NCEP), in their simulations.

 

But nobody has yet created a computer model of a SeaVax Calypso or Sargasso, used in various (fleet formations) to determine if such a concept could control volume escalation, before they grow to be profusely irrepressible. Indeed such simulations may help develop such concepts in terms of capacity and operations, that they may, or may not, contain the crisis, preventing a worldwide state of emergency - by nipping it in the bud.

 

THEORY DEVELOPMENT

 

At this stage of the formulation of his theory, the innovator is considering the awful prospect, based on the demonstrable and devastating spread of sargassum from the North Atlantic to the Equatorial South Atlantic, but not yet migrating to the more general south, due presumably, to temperatures not yet being to the liking of the buoyant seaweed.

 

The three major oceans are all interconnected via currents and driving winds. The main barrier to migration at present, is the temperature and level of nutrients, that is lower where the seaweed mats could pass from one to another. But that is by no means a hard point, as the melting of the polar caps indicates. We are living in changeable times, where the unthinkable is taking place, as a pace faster than previously supposed.

 

In other words, the impossible is rapidly becoming possible. And there is no containment system at present, to prevent that from happening; no international coordination, or action plan. A recipe for disaster you may think!

 

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

 

The sargassum crisis seen in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico could be just the beginning of a worldwide plague, stemming from our inability to curb political insatiability for fossil fuels - to power failing economic strategies, based on growth, when we have already used up the planet twice over, in sustainable terms.

 

The answer to failed political policies is very often a jolly good war, (Russia Vs Ukraine). When all cock-ups get thrown to the wind in the media scrum, and a whitewash ensues, until the next band of post-war cutthroats is elected, each with their hands in the pockets of Lucifer's climate change deniers. That said, it would take a nuclear conflict to reduce earth's population significantly enough to brake global warming - but then the planet would be barren and unable to support human life. Hence, an unthinkable solution to all but the most desperate of homicidal kleptocrats: warmongers.

 

But, ignoring thermonuclear first strikes for now, even if we transition to renewables immediately, global warming will not reverse for 30-50 years at best, and that is with a fair political wind. Meaning that the conditions for sargassum to populate welcoming equatorial waters (rich in nutrients) around the globe, remains a distinct possibility. Such as the:

 

 

Arabian Sea

Atlantic - North & South Equatorial

Banda Ceram Molucca & Timor Seas

Bay of Bengal

Celebes Sea

Gulf of Guinea

Gulf of Thailand

Indian Ocean

Java Sea

Pacific Ocean - North & South, Equatorial Belt (Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama regions)

Philippine Sea

South China Sea

 

 

Seas and oceans in these latitudes could become inundated with macro algae, if the rafts of floating seaweed manage to navigate less hospitable barriers, such as colder regions. Which at the moment, Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope appear to offer some protection from invasion.

 

THESIS

 

This is a theory proposed by Nelson Kay (as a volunteer) in August of 2022, based on his work with the SeaVax team from 2016 - 2020. Though that exertion was mostly concerning micro and macro plastic recovery and river containment, the ocean engineering and logistical challenges posed by SeaVax are kindred concepts, and may be sympathetically adapted or even interchangeable to some degree. And may one day inspire others to devise a practical resolution.

 

Academics and scientific institutions inclined to test such thesis, or otherwise wishing to provide data or technological assistance, positive or negative, should please contact the Cleaner Ocean Foundation in the first instance. The aim being to prove or disprove the concept, to advance our knowledge in this little understood area of Oceanology/Oceanography. Students at all levels are most welcome, as are degree level students and post graduates looking to higher level qualifications, or simply to gain experience.

 

There are a million reasons for not doing something, and only one for taking up a challenge. Most people will use manifold negatives to sit back in their armchairs, and postulate. But, every now and again, someone is foolhardy enough to roll their sleeves up - and experiment - because they feel they must. Despite the enormity of the task. And that is how this website came about, in support of the SeaVax project in 2017.

 

 

 

 

Honduras, Caribean island with a tide of plastic, pictures by Caroline Power    

 

 

PLASTIC TIDE - These amazing pictures of a giant plastic tide were taken by Caroline Power. Please note how plastic and sargassum intertwine, creating a separation problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CARIBBEAN ISLANDS UNDER THREAT A-Z

 

Anguilla

Antigua and Barbuda

Aruba (Netherlands)

Bahamas
Barbados

British Virgin Islands

Caribbean Netherlands

Cayman Islands (UK)

Cuba

Curaçao (Netherlands)

Dominica

Dominican Republic (Hispaniola)

Grenada

Guadeloupe (France) 
Haiti (Hispaniola)
Jamaica
Martinique (France) 
Montserrat
Puerto Rico (US) 

Roatán

Saint Barthélemy

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia 

Saint Martin 

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Sint Maarten (Netherlands)

Tortuga

Trinidad and Tobago

Turks and Caicos Islands
United States Virgin Islands 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LINKS & REFERENCE

 

https://ioc-africa.org/news-and-updates/267-proposal-to-set-up-the-gulf-of-guinea-sargassum-network-ggsn.html

https://www.unep.org/events/webinar/sargassum-challenges-responses-and-collaboration-west-africa

https://www.unep.org/events/webinar/sargassum-challenges-responses-and-collaboration-west-africa

https://ioc-africa.org/news-and-updates/267-proposal-to-set-up-the-gulf-of-guinea-sargassum-network-ggsn.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This website is provided on a free basis as a public information service. copyright © Cleaner Oceans Foundation Ltd (COFL) (Company No: 4674774) August 2022. Solar Studios, BN271RF, United Kingdom. COFL is a charity without share capital. The names AmphimaxRiverVax™ and SeaVax™ are trademarks.

 

 

 

 

 

WORLD PLAGUES GIANT SARGASSUM SEAWEED MIGRATIONS TO ALL OCEANS