The search for solutions to the sargassum problem unites INTEC and ASONAHORES
SANTO DOMINGO. - The impact that generates the sargasso in the in the country will be Focal point for the cooperation what will they focus on Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) and the National Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (ASONAHORES) after the company de agreement de collaboration in which they agreed to do activities de training, research projects. and identification y promotion de solutions Problems caused by sargasso and others that impact the important tourism sector of the Dominican economy and society.
In the agreement signed by Julio Sanchez Marinez, rector of INTEC, and Rafael White Tejera, president of ASONAHORES, the realization of a diplomat for capacitate al commitment of the tourism sector on the subject of sargassum, with a focus on taking advantage of its opportunities, among other activities of dissemination of culture and extension of services.
The agreement was signed in a meeting held at the Asonahores offices. Once the signing was concluded, the rector Julio Sánchez Maríñez and a team of researchers from the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Sargassum (GIS) of INTEC presented, to the union that groups the tourism sector, the actions that INTEC has developed and the research that are made for find solutions to sargassum problem, both to tourism and to marine life and the environment in general.
INTEC specialists make their technical expertise available to ASONAHORES regarding the effectiveness of the use of different types of barriers against sargassum that can be installed in the country and request the institutional support of ASONAHORES for the development of the Quisqueya Sat nanosatellite, in the one that the university works under the leadership of the aerospace engineer Edwin Sánchez, to predict the arrival of the sargassum tides to the coasts of the country.
"The actors in the tourism sector are interested in knowing when, where and how much sargassum arrives in the country and in that sense, with the Quisqueya Sat, the part of predicting the arrival of sargassum to our coasts will be worked on," said Ulises Jauregui, coordinator of the doctorate in Environmental Sciences and the GIS of INTEC. Additionally, the researchers project the use of drones as the basis for a software solution designed to timely monitor and predict the movement of sargassum in the proximity of our beaches.
Jauregui also specified that INTEC is able to offer diploma courses and workshops to train human resources in the tourism sector on the management of sargassum, in which basic points of the chemical composition of the macroalgae will be addressed, the effects that it can cause to health, how to monitor and collect it, what can be done with sargassum, its sustainable management and, mainly, the challenge that its arrival on Caribbean beaches means for tourism.
The members of the GIS also work on the identification of products and uses based on sargassum that can give it a useful life, with economic and social use by the entities and communities affected by the massive influxes of sargassum.
Finally, the agreement contemplates that ASONAHORES will create a program of internships and institutional visits for undergraduate, postgraduate and permanent education students, in addition to carrying out other scientific and academic activities.