Semarnat limits the removal of seaweed from Mazatlan beaches

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Prohibits backhoes from entering the coastal zone to avoid effects on the Federal Terrestrial Maritime Zone; Beach Operator will insist on the permit application

Mazatlan, Sinaloa.- The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources prohibited the Operator and Administrator of Beaches from cleaning the Mazatlan beaches with backhoes or heavy machinery, despite a large amount of seaweed that covers the North Beach and Pinitos area

Rogelio Olivas Osuna, director of the Operator, said that the task of cleaning by hand is very difficult and strenuous, so they will continue to insist on permission before the federal authority.

Garbage and the arrival of seaweed in Mazatlan beaches affect the image of the port.

He said that in cases like Cancun and Cozumel, in the southern part of the country, the removal of algae is done with backhoes, but here the Semarnat prohibited them from using, after three days of cleaning.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to enter what is Pinitos with large equipment, since there was a restriction on the part of the Semarnat, which does not allow us to re-insert a backhoe to do the algae removal

Rogelio Olivas Osuna

He clarified that this phenomenon that occurs in the Mazatlan coast, is not the same problem as in the Caribbean, where the beaches of Cancun and Cozumel are being affected by the arrival of large amounts of sargassum, but that these are macroalgae that occur in the rocky areas and in the rainy season break off and are thrown to the beaches; These appear from June to the first half of September.

In fact, climate change and everything that we as citizens have been doing against what nature and the ocean have generated a more constant proliferation, but it must also be added that this problem has been presented year after year, not in large quantities, but with what has happened in Cancun, we all bring the issue more in mind, and it is a bit more noticeable

Rogelio Olivas Osuna

He said that both biologists and local fishermen agree that it is something that happens year after year, only this time is more abundant.

Rogelio Olivas Osuna, director of the Operator and Administrator of Beaches 

Olivas Osuna said they will insist that Semarnat grant permission to clean the beach area affected by the presence of algae, based on the permission they were given in Cancun and Cozumel.

It is something that has to be done and we are not going against a change that is going to be done to that area, it is simply the removal of the algae, and we are going to rely a lot on the guidelines that gave the authority to the people from Cozumel and Cancun, but we will continue to insist because it is quite

Rogelio Olivas Osuna

SARGAZO OR MACROALGA?

The environmentalist Mario Astorga, a member of the Mazatlan Ecological Council, said that the presence of sargassum is an issue that has to do with pollution and runoff that is registered towards the ocean.

In the case of the Gulf of Mexico it comes from the Amazon and part of Africa where there are runoffs due to pollution issues that go to the sea, the sargassum is an algae and has its growth and development precisely with the runoff and contaminants of those areas, they are creating the sargassum

Mario Astorga

Regarding the Pacific coast, he said he does not know if there is sargassum or not, but he said that the amount of seaweed that reaches the Sinaloa coast is increasing, not only to Mazatlan.

The biologist Fernando Enciso agreed that this season is more the area affected by the presence of seaweed than other years, since before the area was reduced to the rocky area and the beach where garbage commonly appears.

However, it clarifies that it is not sargassum, although it is brown algae, but of the fucus or laminaria species, which are not dangerous as the first.

They are not dangerous but now they increase a lot, it is known that when there is a strong fertilization of water, the same thing that happens on earth, there tends to be a larger population, it grows more, exactly what is happening with the same phenomenon of sargassum in the gulf of mexico

Fernando Enciso

Consider that the presence of algae this weekend has to do with the passage of the tropical storm ‘Ivo’, since this type of phenomenon occurs when there is a deep-sea or strong swells caused by a storm, cyclone or hurricane.

When there is a deep-sea or strong swells, they break off and the algae also tend to die, their life period reaches them and they die, they break off because they no longer have strength, so there are several factors, and there is no other than clean

Fernando Enciso

He said that seaweed on the beaches is a temporary phenomenon that will end at the end of the rainy season, and will appear again next year.

For its part, the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology conducts an investigation to determine the type of algae, its origin, and growth, since it is believed that they are algae that grow in the rocky area of ​​the coast, which appears in the season of rains and is thrown to the beaches.

It belongs to the genus of brown algae of the Phaeophyceae class, which is found in intertidal areas of the rocky coasts, its life cycle is relatively simple and they produce only one type of talus, which grows to a maximum size of 2 meters. It is said to have healing properties, which help regulate the amount of fat in the body.

LAMINARY

Of the brown seaweed genus, it is characterized by long, leathery and large sheets, they are at depths of 8 to 39 meters deep in warm waters of the sea. It is used in the production of potassium chloride or iodine and has medicinal properties to reduce cervical dilation of the uterus, as well as a nutritious food.

SARGASSO

It is a macroalgae of the genus brown platonic, can grow several meters, brown or blackish green. Its concentration on the coast endangers the local ecosystem, it is believed that this phenomenon is due to global warming, its effects are: reduction of light and oxygen, acidification by acid production, death and damage of corals, increase in concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus, impact on turtle populations, impact on wildlife species, among others.

Source: el sol de mazatlan

The Mazatlan Post