Riviera Maya: Sargassum seaweed continues to arrive in large amounts, despite the efforts of authorities

1564

Despite the promise of intervention by the Navy of Mexico in the fight against sargassum, in Cancun the seaweed continues to arrive on the beaches, causing some problems for tourists and service providers.

Military ships and helicopters of the Navy monitor and collect tons of sargassum on the high seas, while officials and citizens also went out this weekend to clean the beaches of Quintana Roo from the macroalga that reached the coast, demonstrating a coordinated work to resolve the contingency and avoid impacts on tourism. 

As part of Operation Sargasso 2019 a Navy Panther helicopter began to monitor and collect information on the most affected areas, while with different vessels deployed containment barriers and networks, in which during two days were collected 10 tons of sargassum between the areas of Punta Cancun and Punta Nizuc, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras and Tulum.

The ship “Libertador” of the Mexican Navy remained anchored in front of the southern tip of Isla Mujeres, from where it was supporting the logistics of the other vessels and teams that are already working to contain sargassum on the high seas.

In this work were added about a thousand workers and officials of the Benito Juárez City Council to prevent the accumulation of the macroalga in 12 different points of the coast of Cancun, including beaches Dolphins, Whales, Marlin, Chac Mool, Child, The Pearls, Flying Fish, Lobster, Turtles, Snail, Blue Seagull and Coral.

Also, the association Unidos por Quintana Roo combined the efforts of more than 500 people, including workers and state government officials, businessmen and students, in the cleanup of coastlines that restarted in Mahahual and Xcalak, and continued with a mega-day of cleaning up to Playa Caribe in Playa del Carmen, with the collection of tons of sargassum.

“There are days when we have a considerable excess sargasso, but there are also other days when there is little, that helps us and we can do a better cleaning,” said a worker from the Directorate of Public Services, assigned to the Playa Delfines.

Vacationers on the beach in Tulum. Image: Red Sargazo

Vacationers on the beach in Tulum. Image: Red Sargazo

The employee commented that the clean-up days at the different beaches of Cancun start at 07:00 hours and end at 2:00 pm when on average they raise more than four tons of the plant.
In Coral Beach, kilometer 24 of the hotel zone, the sargasso already caused the erosion of a stretch of sand, and it is in the process of drying, generating the impression of mud in the stretch.

Experts have predicted that this year sargassum will arrive in greater quantities than last year when it exceeded all records and caused thousands of tourists to stay away from the beaches of the Mexican Caribbean region. It is expected that between 800,000 and one million tons of this algae will arrive, an amount that increases five times the 170,000 tons that arrived in 2018.

Source: mexicanist

The Mazatlan Post