E50 The voices of the invisible - Sargassum impacts fishing communities with Bethia Thomas

Bethia Thomas is currently a postgraduate student at CERMES pursuing a PhD in Natural Resource Management. Her research seeks to venture into the novel territory of pelagic sargassum with special emphasis on a community-based participatory approach to vulnerability analysis and adaptation planning for pelagic sargassum influxes in the Eastern Caribbean, using the island of Saint Lucia as a case study.  Bethia joined us to talk about how sargassum impacts island communities in the Caribbean.  

3:51 - What is sargassum to Bethia? 

6:31 - How are the communities Bethia researches being impacted by sargassum? 

11:50 - How has sargassum impacted fish populations around the communities? 14:00 - What kinds of solutions would people like to see regarding sargassum? 

17:30 - What hurdles would make it hard to implement these solutions? 

19:30 - What kinds of people did Bethia interview for her research? 

24:00 - What else is Bethia working on? 

30:07 - The wind-down  

Watch the videos Bethia made together with the local communities 

 - Conversations – Sargassum Exchange. Brown Curse or Golden Blessing 

- Sarg-Chat – A Praslin People Perspective on the Pelagic Plague 

- Sargassum Talks – The People of Micoud Tell All  

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