Playa Del Carmen will see 300 tons of seaweed per day in the coming weeks, officials say

The beaches of Playa del Carmen will be the arrival from to 300 tons of sargassum per day in the coming weeks, authorities announced on Friday.

The seaweed alarm, which took place on a “very low” level at the end of 2023 should be increased to “lowThe Oceanographic Institute of the Gulf and the Caribbean Sea, which is part of the Mexican Navy, reported this last week.

While the main coastal areas remain clean, an increasing number of beaches have already been affected by the arrival of large amounts of sargassum, as reported by Traveling lifestyle journalists and members of our Mexico sargassum monitors FB group. However, this is going to change.

Rising temperatures and an anticyclone with southeasterly winds in the Caribbean will begin to have visible effects on the number of seaweeds washing ashore in the coming weeks.

“We know from experience that higher temperatures are correlated with the quantities of sargassum that will arrive. We are therefore prepared to expand the collection, because from today the arrival will certainly intensify,” María de Lourdes Várguez Ocampo, Solidaridad Minister of Sustainable Environment and Climate Change, told reporters.

To do this, cleaning teams from the Federal Land Maritime Zone (Zofemat) collect the algae from the beaches every morning, although it is impossible to remove it from the water.

A number of anti-sargassum barriers are expected to be placed in the ocean by the end of the month.

“I contacted one of Semar’s captains to find a space to house the barriers and keep them protected.said Lili Campos Miranda, president of the Soledad municipality.

Travelers should be aware that this is a new “natural” phenomenon will have an inevitable impact on their beach experience. And most importantly, it will only get worse until major international action is taken.

It is crucial to keep yourself informed about the changing situation. Some beaches may be clean today, but dirty tomorrow, and vice versa.

A regional issue

Sargassum in Mexico is more than an aesthetic problem affecting tourism. It also puts further pressure on the coral barrier, choking turtle nesting sites and destroying mangroves, which are crucial nurseries for marine species.

The daily removal of algae with heavy machinery has resulted in eroded beaches, which affects local fishermen.

According to a study conducted by Marine Pollution Bulletin in just 2018, animals from 78 species failed to fight back and died during the sargassum season.