Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Citizens pitch in to remove sargassum from beaches in Quintana Roo

Beaches in two Quintana Roo municipalities are free of sargassum, local authorities have declared.

Massive clean-up operations in Puerto Morelos, located between the resort cities of Cancún and Playa del Carmen, and Isla Mujeres have cleared the beaches of the smelly, brown seaweed that has arrived en masse on the state’s coastline this year.

“Sargassum is a nightmare for the whole state but in Puerto Morelos we fought it with the support of all municipal employees. Everybody . . . from general managers to secretaries, police and firefighters joined the efforts to pick up the seaweed. We’ve also had the support of the hotel sector . . .” Puerto Morelos Mayor Laura Fernández Piña said.

“We allocated more than 80,000 man-hours to cleaning up our beaches,” she explained, adding that up to 200 tonnes of sargassum were removed on some days.

Students, taxi drivers and fishermen also contributed to the efforts.

Fernández said that Puerto Morelos authorities in conjunction with the business sector and environmental experts have established protocols to respond to future sargassum invasions to ensure that beaches — and the tourism industry — are protected.

Kerem Pinto Aguilar, an Isla Mujeres official, said that Hurricane Michael caused more sargassum to wash up on local beaches last week but it was quickly removed.

She told a press conference that government authorities, the private sector and citizens all did their bit to ensure that the visitors could enjoy the white sands and clear waters that Isla Mujeres is famous for.

“Throughout the week we didn’t drop our guard in cleaning up Playa Centro and Playa Norte and today they look beautiful,” Pinto said.

Hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of sargassum have arrived on Quintana Roo beaches over the past five months, causing a significant drop in tourism and triggering warnings of a serious environmental disaster.

State authorities said last week that the quantity of the seaweed washing up on beaches is on the decline but it won’t disappear completely until the end of the year.

Source: El Universal (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Mexican soldier and ship

Navy seizes over 17 million liters of stolen fuel in double ‘huachicol’ busts

0
Two separate operations netted enough stolen diesel and hydrocarbons to represent one of Mexico’s biggest fuel theft busts over the past decade.
Soft drinks and chips on display in a store

Junk food ban goes into effect in Mexican schools

2
Chicharrones, hot dogs and juice boxes are a few of the items that will no longer be welcome in Mexican public and private schools.
Police and security agents escort a handcuffed suspect onto a plane

Suspect arrested in case of Tulum security chief’s assassination

0
The state attorney general said "El Rayo" acted on the instructions of a criminal leader from the northern state of Tamaulipas.