Mexico has officially declared sargassum a national fishing resource, according to an update published in the National Fisheries Charter (CNP) by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER).
The CNP is a technical and official document that monitors the current state of Mexico’s fishery resources and issues recommendations for their management, conservation and sustainable use. According to the CNP’s new terms, sargassum may be harvested on the high seas starting Aug. 7, 2025.
“This event is a significant milestone in the management of our country’s marine resources, opening the door to a technical, sustainable management, and economic use of sargassum,” SADER said.
Mexico, particularly its beaches along the Mexican Caribbean, has struggled with persistent sargassum invasions that have hurt tourism.
Sargassum, a yellowish seaweed that floats in the central Atlantic Ocean for much of the year, provides food, shelter and breeding grounds for various marine species. But once it reaches the shore, it releases a foul smell as it rots, potentially posing health risks to beachgoers.
SADER’s move to reclassify sargassum expands its management beyond beach cleanup and allows equipped vessels to capture the seaweed before it reaches shores and decomposes. With the new guidelines, the government seeks to collect up to 945,000 tonnes of dried sargassum annually and utilize it as an industrial resource.
Large biomasses of holopelagic sargassum — the species of seaweed that washes ashore in the Mexican Caribbean — can be used to produce various products, such as food supplements for animal husbandry, fertilizers, biofuels, bioplastics and materials for bioremediation and water treatment. Sargassum can also be used to create fibers and dyes for the textile and footwear industries, as well as biomaterials for brick making. In Quintana Roo, efforts are currently underway to create biofuel from the seaweed.
Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena celebrated the news on her official X account, writing, “Thanks to [Agriculture Minister] Julio Berdegué and IMIPASmex for this key step that enables [sargassum’s] sustainable use.”
Sargassum: a threat to the Riviera Maya’s tourism sector
Tourism in the Riviera Maya has taken a hit due to the presence of sargassum, particularly this year. Representatives of Tulum’s tourism industry told local media that tourism has dropped by 50%, mainly due to the presence of the unsightly seaweed.
Despite heroic clean-up efforts, sargassum keeps accumulating on Quintana Roo’s coast
“Visitors arrive, see the dirty beaches and leave,” Francisco Cámara, tour captain at Playa Pescadores, Tulum, said in an interview with the news outlet Reportur. “There’s no real solution, only palliative measures that aren’t enough. The accumulation of seaweed has been a recurring problem in recent years, damaging both the destination’s image and the tourist experience.”
According to the Navy, between 2019 and 2025, more than 266,000 tonnes of sargassum have been collected across seven ports in Quintana Roo. However, by the end of this year, that number is likely to increase.
Dr. Brigitta I. van Tussenbroek, a researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology in the Puerto Morelos Unit in Quintana Roo, estimates that around 100,000 tonnes of sargassum will arrive in the region in 2025 alone.
With reports from Reportur
