KOICA Grant Aid · Dominican Republic · 2026–2031From satellite detection and drift forecasting to coastal containment, collection and treatment — building a Dominican-led system to reduce the damage caused by mass Sargassum influxes along the Caribbean coast.
Since 2011 the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has stretched from West Africa to the Caribbean. Pelagic Sargassum that once stayed in the Sargasso Sea now arrives on Dominican beaches almost every month, with record biomass in 2025 and another near-record year in 2026.
Satellite records show floating Sargassum biomass across the tropical Atlantic climbing from a few million tonnes in the early 2010s to roughly 37.5 million tonnes in May 2025, the highest ever observed. In June 2026 the Caribbean basin recorded its densest accumulation for that month, and total Atlantic biomass reached about 90 % of the 2025 record.
The Dominican Republic sits on the front line. Between 2015 and 2018 alone, influxes were documented at some 50 locations across 15 provinces — including Punta Cana, Bayahibe, Boca Chica and Juan Dolio — and the trend has been rising and lengthening ever since.
The project logic links four outputs — governance, monitoring, a pilot facility and international cooperation — into one detection → forecast → response → cooperation chain owned by Dominican institutions.
The Project Management Consultant (PMC) consortium delivers the consulting, design, research and training work directly, and prepares and supervises the separate contracts for system development (PC1) and facility construction (PC2).
Unify data from the Presidency's Sargassum cabinet, ANAMAR, the Navy and the public–private Sargassum fund into MMARN's Integrated Sargassum Management Office.
Combine optical and SAR satellites with drone and mobile field data so daily products continue under Caribbean cloud cover.
Booms at the reef edge and small-boat harvesters inshore, designed for Boca Chica's 20 cm–3 m depths and coral habitat.
Address high arsenic content through joint R&D with INTEC, UASD and MESCYT, and share outcomes across the ACS region with IDB, FAO and SARG'COOP partners.
Schedule is provisional and subject to agreement between KOICA and the Government of the Dominican Republic.
KOICA and the Government of the Dominican Republic steer the project through a Joint Coordinating Committee; a Project Management Unit handles day-to-day coordination; the PMC consortium leads implementation together with separately contracted developers.
Satellite ground-station and geospatial information systems company (Daejeon, est. 2023) with ODA experience in Indonesia and ISP consulting for Korea's national satellite centres.
Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology — national research institute (est. 1973) operating the GOCI geostationary ocean-colour satellite ground segment, research vessels and a Caribbean research centre in Santa Marta, Colombia.
Sustainability consultancy (Seoul, est. 2022) specialised in environment, climate change and results-based management, with PMC experience in Central America and the Caribbean and Spanish-speaking staff.
The project is in its procurement and mobilisation phase. Updates will be posted here as milestones are reached.
The consortium finalised its PMC proposal, including a cloud-proof satellite–SAR–drone monitoring design, a two-tier collection concept for Boca Chica and a Korea–Caribbean joint-research programme.
USF and NOAA satellite observations placed total Atlantic biomass at about 33.6 million tonnes, roughly 90 % of the 2025 record, signalling a severe influx year for Dominican coasts.
KOICA's Central America & Caribbean Team published the RFP "PMC Service for the project Strengthening Sargassum Monitoring and Management Capacity in the Dominican Republic" (budget KRW 7,047,378,993 through 2031).
The Ministry of the Presidency and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources agreed with KOICA on the four-component project scope, the Boca Chica pilot site and a multi-year budget of USD 5.1 million.
Following evaluation, the PMC will mobilise in Santo Domingo, hold the kick-off meeting with the JCC and PMU, and launch the baseline survey and BPR/ISP consulting.
Current beach status, seasonal index and estimated arrivals along the Dominican coast. Updated —. Forecast validity —.
Sorted by severity · click a marker on the map for details
| Beach | Status | Trend |
|---|
Monthly index for the whole Dominican coast, 2024–2026 (0 = no influx, 100 = extreme)
Share of monitored beaches in each status class
Drift-model risk for the pilot site (0–100)
Thousand tonnes (wet weight) per year — Atlantic-facing east and south-east coasts receive the bulk of the influx
Funding agencyPMC lead · project management & ISPOcean science, algorithms, facility designPerformance management & local capacity buildingPartner country institutions: Ministry of the Presidency (MINPRE) · Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MMARN) · National Authority for Maritime Affairs (ANAMAR) · Municipality of Boca Chica