‘Golden tides’ – a collaborative search for a sustainable solution to the seaweed inundations on Caribbean beaches

This article describes the collaboration between the University of Greenwich, CIEEM UK Overseas Territories Special Interest Group, the School for Field Studies and the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources, Turks and Caicos Island Government, to tackle the seaweed deposited on beaches in these islands. The issue is not restricted to this area but is widespread across the Caribbean and western coast of South America and has received media attention due to the impact on the tourism industry. Our interest was firstly to see if the resources of the Algal Biotechnology group in the University could find a commercial use for the seaweed biomass, and secondly to determine the environmental impact of the inundations and potential consequences of removal