Mexican Caribbean Combating Sargassum Seaweed Ahead of Summer

Despite a promising forecast for 2021, the marquee summer vacation spot of Cancun and Mexico’s Riviera Maya region is once again dealing with a pesky nemesis in the form of sargassum seaweed.

While winds and water temperature have not been kind to the destination, workers have made significant progress in removing the algae. According to Riviera Maya News, 120 to 125 tons of sargassum are being lifted from the public beaches of Puerto Morelos—located between Cancun and Playa del Carmen—every day.

The quick response means that visitors don’t have to worry about being met by a foul smell on the beach.

“We have had constant sargassum arrivals, but we do not have rotten sargassum or seaweed in a state of decomposition on the coast, so our visitors can enjoy the destination,” Jose Luis Chacon of Municipal Public Services of Puerto Morelos told Riviera Maya News. “We are collaborating for the placement, in the month of June, of another thousand meters more to contain the sargassum.”

“We are keeping an eye on the monitoring of the arrival of sargassum,” he added, pointing out that another round “coming from the South Atlantic could impact the coasts of the Mexican Caribbean, so we are preparing to take care of this possibility.”

Officials in the Mexican Caribbean have pulled out all the stops to prevent sargassum seaweed from impacting beachgoers in recent years, utilizing clean-up crews and barriers to keep the destination’s coveted shoreline free of algae and debris.