Mexico warns of the “alarming” arrival of more than 32,000 tons of sargassum in the Caribbean

Tourists on Marlin beach walk next to mounds of sargassum, in Cancún, Quintana Roo, on March 23, 2022.Elizabeth Ruiz (Cuartoscuro)

Large banks of brown algae threaten to overshadow the brightness of the waters of the Mexican Caribbean.

This Friday, the Secretary of the Navy (Semar) has recognized that the massive arrival of more than 32,000 tons of sargassum is expected in Mexico this year, an “alarming” figure according to the Secretary of the Navy, José Rafael Ojeda Durán: “The situation current we can say that it is alarming and is located in a category 8 that corresponds to the denomination of excessive”, he said this morning during the morning conference of the Executive from the State of Quintana Roo.

From February 15 to date, the federal agency has collected 9,565 tons of sargassum -9,467 in municipalities and 97.7 tons in the sea- in the country.

Ojeda Durán has admitted that Tulum is, at this time, the epicenter of the affectation with 40% of algae on its coasts, followed by El Recodo beach with 30%, Puerto Morelos and Cozumel with 20% and Majahual with only fifteen%.

The only area where there is no sargassum is in Isla Mujeres.

Ojeda Durán clarified that if the sargassum continues its trajectory towards the Gulf of Mexico, its presence on the Caribbean beaches could decrease: "Due to the cloud density of approximately 50%, said value could be underestimated."

Since 2011, the episodes of tourists unable to reach the water due to a barrier of sargassum up to a meter high and kilometers of frontage have been repeated on the tourist beaches of the Caribbean, mainly in Quintana Roo.

Sargassum is transported by ocean currents, waves and wind.

Recently, researchers from the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education of Ensenada (Cicese) declared to EL PAÍS that the greater intensity of wind compared to previous years is a probable explanation for the massive arrival of sargassum this year in the country.

To stop the damage caused by the giant brown tide of fetid-smelling sargassum to one of the jewels of Mexican tourism, some 328 Marine elements, more than 600 people, and a team of 34 ships and this Friday and Saturday the technical committee made up of Semar, the Government of Quinta Roo, the affected municipalities and the hotel industry will meet.

For local businessmen, the arrival of the algae has been a nightmare for years.

The owners of restaurants, hotels and aquatic activities delete any allusion to sargassum from their advertisements, however, they cannot avoid the reality that the visitors themselves report through their social networks.

“On this occasion, tractors and collection barriers are going to be bought for the beaches and it is also planned that in one or two more months the construction of more sargaceras will begin to continue supporting this problem because we do not know about this sargassum phenomenon. how many more years will it continue to affect”, settled the head of the Semar.

In this race, it seems that sargassum is once again in the lead.

subscribe here

to the

of EL PAÍS México and receive all the informative keys of the current affairs of this country