Authorities announced that Playa del Carmen will be seeing up to 300 tons of sargassum every day in the coming weeks.
According to the Oceanographic Institute of the Gulf and Caribbean Sea (part of the Mexican Navy), the seaweed alert had to be raised to ” low ” last week.
As reported by Traveling Life and our Mexico Sargassum Monitoring FB group, a growing number of beaches are already affected by large amounts of sargassum. This is about to change.
The number of seaweeds washing up on shore will be affected by the rising temperatures in combination with an anticyclone bringing southeastern winds to the Caribbean.
We know from past experience that the arrival of sargassum is correlated with higher temperatures. We are ready to increase collection because the arrival of sargassum will intensify from today,” Maria de Lourdes Varguez Ocampo told reporters.
Every morning, cleaning teams from the Federal Land Maritime Zone of the Federal Land (Zofemat), collect algae from beaches. However, it is impossible to remove the algae from water.
By the end of this month, it is expected that some ocean anti-sargassum barrier will be installed.
” … I have contacted one Semar captain to find an area to accommodate the barriers, and keep them safe,“, said Lili Campos, Mayor of Soledad Municipality.
This new “natural phenomenon” is a serious threat to beach experiences.
Keep yourself updated on the current situation. Some beaches may be clean one day and dirty the next.
A Regional Issue
Sargassum is more than just an aesthetic issue affecting the tourism industry in Mexico. Sargassum in Mexico is more than an aesthetic problem. It also stresses the coral barrier and destroys turtle nesting areas.
Daily alga removal using heavy machinery has led to eroded beach that is affecting local fishermen.
A study by Marine Pollution Bulletin found that 78 species of wildlife were unable fight back during the sargassum seasons.
