Economic impacts of sargassum events in Puerto Rico, USVI, and coastal Florida

The frequency, intensity, and distribution of sargassum events have been rising in the Caribbean region in recent years causing social and economic disruptions. We develop estimates of the scale of annual economic impacts on local economies of sargassum events using multi-sector economic impact models for Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and coastal Florida. Using field observations from the Sargassum Watch database, we validate the current sargassum forecast in the region. We show that the forecast is performing well and that sargassum season has started earlier and lasted longer in recent years. The high-risk regions for sargassum inundation include Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and southeast coastal areas in Florida. Results of the study show that sargassum events are expected to cause significant negative economic impacts, in multimillion dollars each year, across the study regions, and the impact may be in billions of dollars along Florida's Atlantic coast. These results provide important input to the planning process in deciding the investments in future sargassum response and cleanup. They can also facilitate targeted data collection and valuation efforts to develop more accurate measures of economic losses.