Empower Your Sargassum Management Efforts
Coastal regions in the Caribbean and West Africa face growing challenges from massive sargassum influxes, affecting ecosystems, fisheries, tourism, and local economies. The Sargassum Monitoring Protocol (SMP-Drones) offers a standardized and accessible way to map and track these events using drone technology. This guide helps readers understand sargassum’s impacts, apply standardized drone and field protocols, and gain hands-on experience in data collection, processing, and visualization using DroneDeploy and GIS tools. It also develops skills for analyzing beaching trends, supporting environmental decisions, and promoting regional collaboration. The SargAdapt Good Practice Guide Series Vol. 1 (2022) equips coastal managers, researchers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs with step-by-step methods and geospatial tools for effective sargassum monitoring, mitigation, and forecasting.
Sargassum Drone Monitoring Protocol Explained
Join Dr. Kim Baldwin, an esteemed drone mapping expert, on a voyage through 5 years of dedicated research. Experience her innovative method for monitoring sargassum abundance and improving sargassum management in the Caribbean. In this 10-minute presentation from the 3rd Sargassum Symposium, Dr. Kim presents the Sargassum Monitoring Protocol (SMP-Drones)—a standardized approach enhancing data collection and national management strategies. Explore the integration of this method into regionally, enhancing sargassum response strategies. Discover the transformative impact of drone technology on sargassum management!
Enhancing Sargassum Monitoring with Drones ✈
Standardised Sargassum Monitoring Methodology
This guidebook provides a simple monitoring protocol using off-the-shelf drone technology that requires no specialised expertise, enabling widespread participation in standardised sargassum monitoring across the Caribbean.
Aids Decision-Making for Sargassum Management
Drone technology allows for real-time, accurate data collection, helping to validate sargassum forecasts to improve national and regional decisions for improved management of sargassum influxes.
Regional Collaboration & Capacity Building
Promotes collaboration across Caribbean nations through standardized sargassum data collection. Empowering local stakeholders to effectively manage sargassum for long-term sustainability.
Elevate Your Sargassum Monitoring Efforts
Take the first step towards enhanced sargassum monitoring and management using drones.
Download the Sargassum Monitoring Protocol Using Drones Guidebook Now
Dr. Kim Baldwin
I'm a marine ecologist and drone pilot with over 13 commercial licenses and two decades of research experience in the Caribbean, conducting environmental mapping, monitoring field research and teaching. My mission is to empower individuals and organizations with the skills and tools to navigate environmental data effectively. I've had the privilege of training numerous professionals and organizations across theworld in drone operations, geospatial mapping strategies for a variety of environmental management applications. Whether you're an individual, a small business, or a larger organisation, I'm here to help you harness technology to enhance your workflows!
What people are saying
Discover how coastal managers, researchers, and policymakers across multiple countries are applying the Sargassum Monitoring Protocol to enhance data accuracy, forecasting, and cross-border collaboration.
This training built my confidence not only in safe drone operations, but also in collecting high-quality data for coastal zone management, sargassum monitoring & beach profiling.
Director, Coastal Zone Management Unit - Tobago
We look forward to applying what we’ve learned to monitor and map Sargassum across the island, as well as support emergency response and disaster management efforts. Something new I learned was how to extract data to create shapefiles for GIS, especially related to Sargassum mapping.
GIS Specialist, Tobago Emergency Management Agency
This training built my confidence not only in safe drone operations, but also in collecting high-quality data for coastal zone management, sargassum monitoring & beach profiling.
Director, Coastal Zone Management Unit - Tobago
We look forward to applying what we’ve learned to monitor and map Sargassum across the island, as well as support emergency response and disaster management efforts. Something new I learned was how to extract data to create shapefiles for GIS, especially related to Sargassum mapping.
GIS Specialist, Tobago Emergency Management Agency