Sargassum Harvesting with Intelligent Eco-friendly Design (SHEILD)

The proliferation of sargassum in the Caribbean has escalated into a significant environmental and economic crisis. In recent years, several island nations have declared states of emergency due to the overwhelming influx, which has exceeded available manpower and infrastructure to manage it. Record blooms have been documented, with estimates reaching up to 38 million tons by May 2025. Once stranded on shorelines, decomposing sargassum releases gases such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, posing serious health hazards, degrading coastal ecosystems, and disrupting tourism and power infrastructure. Existing models have limited resolution and fail to accurately predict localized accumulation, creating a gap in effective mitigation planning and resource allocation. This work aims to develop reliable, automated, ocean wave resistant design to mitigate incoming sargassum using a combination of real-time data, numerical simulations, and location-specific engineering interventions. We introduce a two-part mechanical system: an automated floating barricade designed for self-deployment and retraction, and a lightweight harvester system suited for sandy and uneven shorelines. The barricade is intended to intercept floating mats before landfall, while the harvester includes balloon tires for terrain compatibility, segmented rollers and spring-supported elements for adaptive motion, and a toothed conveyor belt to effectively collect and transfer biomass. We study the interaction of these systems with incoming ocean waves using simulation and scaled physical modeling. The goal is to evaluate their performance under varied environmental conditions and to develop an integrated response framework that links predictive modeling with responsive, field-deployable hardware.