The SargaSTREAM project came to fruition after several years of planning and fundraising. The project founder, Santiago R Said, was first introduced to the Sargassum challenge through a National Geographic Society-funded project with fellow National Geographic Explorers Jenny Gil, Pamela Silva, Laura Rodriguez, and Isabel Nuñez Lendo. Together, they worked with local fishing communities in Colombia and Puerto Rico to co-develop technologies for sargassum cleaning and valorization. It was through this project that several of the SargaSTREAM team members got together and started thinking about a holistic approach to mitigate the impacts of massive Sargassum landings.

Understanding the need for a holistic approach to face the Sargassum challenge and encouraged by Santiago’s previous colleagues, Eliane Ubalijoro and Jennifer Garard, the research team answered the 2023 New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) International call. This fund supports interdisciplinary, collaborative, international, high-reward, transformative, and rapid-responsive Canadian-led research that provides concrete tools for local communities to mitigate the impacts of Climate Change. It is through this call that researchers Maycira Costa (University of Victoria), Ved Chirayath (University of Miami),  João Adriano Rossignolo (University of São Paulo), Rosa Rodriguez (UNAM) joined the team to contribute their expertise and support locally relevant research for Coastal Communities,  representing Canada, USA, Brazil, and Mexico research, respectively. Local Community leaders and environmentalists, Ana Antillanca (Mahahual, Mexico) and Ludimila Cruz (Salinopolis, Brazil), joined the group, grounding all research and educational activities in the needs and realities of local allied communities.

The name of our research group is an acronym for our four main and interdependent action areas:  Sargassum Tracking, Education, Air Quality & Health, and Markets.  Through advancing research on these four fronts, our project's goal is to reduce the negative impacts associated with massive Sargassum landings through the co-creation of a Sargassum management framework with the communities of Mahahual, Mexico and Salinopolis, Brazil (two communities with long-lasting relationships with the research team), generating the necessary capacities for holistic Sargassum management, including Sargassum-monitoring and valorization, supporting local blue economies, youth empowerment through innovation education, and public health.