REPORTAGE
Sargassum is a plague for the Antilles, more and more invaded. These brown algae ruin the coasts, so much so that the first international conference on Sargassum was organized in Guadeloupe. The French Prime Minister went on site to see the extent of the damage and close the conference.
Edouard Philippe visited a restaurant nestled at the end of a cove, a once paradise site but now ravaged by tons of seaweed washed up on the beach. Romeo, the owner of the restaurant "Chez Coco" had to close his doors. Since 2011, he has had algae every year and quickly felt abandoned by the authorities: "From 2011 to 2015, Sargassum was managed by ourselves, compared to other sites, here we really had every year ", he testifies at the microphone of Europe 1.
"We see the terrible impact on biodiversity, the ecosystem and the economy"
Edouard Philippe insisted that the government had taken the matter seriously: "I wanted to see what happened on the ground, in this place that was beautiful and will be again someday. the terrible impact on the biodiversity, the ecosystem and the economy of these Sargassas - it's nothing new.In 2017, Nicolas Hulot, Minister for the Ecological and Solidarity Transition at the time, came Here is a common interest and an urgent interest. "
The Prime Minister will close the first international conference on Sargassum. A dozen researchers were rewarded for their ideas on reprocessing these algae. They will share a sum of 10 million euros to carry out their project.