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Short Abstract

Schools and communities in the Mexican Caribbean monitor sargassum with CoastSnap to build environmental literacy and adaptive capacity. This participatory, low-cost citizen science links local action with a nuisance seaweed international school network for shared learning and resilience.

Abstract

Pelagic sargassum influxes across the tropical Atlantic have intensified in recent years, creating ecological stress and socio-economic challenges for coastal communities. These recurring events disrupt tourism, fisheries, and local livelihoods from western Africa to the western Caribbean, highlighting the need for participatory monitoring and adaptive management. This project is focused on the Mexican Caribbean and explores how community-based and educational citizen science can bridge data gaps, foster environmental literacy, and inform local action. We co-designed seven permanent volunteer monitoring stations with schools and community groups, training teachers, students (ages 11–18), and residents to use CoastSnap (a low-cost, participatory approach for documenting shoreline change and sargassum beaching events). These observations generate valuable, location-specific data on sargassum seasonality and impacts, addressing monitoring gaps in data-sparse coastal areas. Embedding these activities into school curricula further strengthens local capacity, empowering youth and educators as blue citizen scientists who link science learning with real-world adaptation. Findings show that community-led, low-tech monitoring enhances public understanding of environmental change while generating actionable knowledge to guide locally appropriate adaptation strategies. This participatory framework aims to demonstrate how inclusive citizen science can convert grassroots data into governance-relevant insights, contributing to coastal resilience. The Mexican initiative forms part of a broader Seaweed School and Community Network, connecting similar efforts in Ghana, Jamaica, and the United Kingdom. Together, these collaborations illustrate how accessible tools and shared learning pathways can promote equitable participation and strengthen blue citizen science across diverse coastal regions.