Sargassum, a type of floating macroalgae (seaweed) that emits a rotten-egg smell as it decomposes, is once again plaguing the Caribbean Coast. According to The New York Times, Mexico’s beaches are contending with a record-breaking influx of noxious seaweed as up to 9,000 tons per day wash onto their pristine shores along its Caribbean coast, home to tourist destinations like Cancún. Sargassum can threaten the health of cleanup workers and send tourists back indoors.
The New York Times reports that President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico last week announced a $115 million plan to clean up the coastline. Mexico will deploy two large ships to capture the seaweed before it reaches the beach and the country’s navy will install 30 miles of containment barriers to trap the sargassum at sea. Hundreds of workers will wait on the sand to shovel up the rest.
Sargassum has threatened tourism in Mexico, Florida and the Caribbean in recent years. The heaps of it that wash up on beaches come from a larger, thousands-miles-wide mass in the Atlantic Ocean that weighs some 30 million tons and that has been expanding seasonally for more than a decade.
At sea, sargassum patches are important habitats for turtles, crabs and fish. But when the seaweed washes ashore, it quickly begins decomposing, releasing unpleasant odors and a harmful gas, hydrogen sulfide.
The New York Times adds that warming oceans, along with nutrient runoff from farming, are making the stinky seaweed more prevalent and extending its growth season.
In 2023, sargassum landings struck Florida, blanketing the coast for months on end. Two years later, the patch was even larger, surpassing its previous record by 40 percent. This year, March and April broke monthly records for sargassum in the tropical Atlantic.
Health Issues for Frontline Workers
In the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, home to Cancún and Tulum, beachfront businesses have hired workers to rake sargassum by hand each morning during the peak season. It’s a dangerous job. A recent study that enlisted sargassum cleanup workers to wear hydrogen sulfide sensors found that nearly half the measurements exceeded Mexico’s legal exposure limit over the course of an eight-hour workday. Almost half the workers reported skin irritation and headaches, and a quarter of them reported nausea and dizziness. Some who stood in the water for hours reported losing hair and nails.
Health problems are not confined to Mexican beaches. In 2018, doctors in Guadeloupe and Martinique recorded 11,000 cases of acute sargassum exposure.
Cleanup Efforts Scale Up
In Miami-Dade County, Florida, 19 specialized tractors comb the beaches twice a day during the peak sargassum landing season, mixing most of it into the sand and sending some to a landfill at a combined cost of $9 million a year, according to CBS News Miami.
In Mexico, special-purpose sargassum ships are expected to remove up to three tons per minute from the ocean. Thirty miles of barriers are also expected to prevent some from reaching the store.
The New York Times reports that at Oasis Hotels & Resorts, a collection of all-inclusive properties in Cancún’s popular hotel zone, it takes nearly 200 people working round-the-clock shifts to remove the sargassum from the beaches.
Two Hundred Working to Clean Up Beaches
In Mexico, the special purpose sargassum ships are expected to remove up to three tons per minute from the ocean. The 30 miles of barriers are also expected to prevent some from reaching the store.
At Oasis Hotels & Resorts, a collection of all-inclusive properties in Cancún’s popular hotel zone, it takes nearly 200 people working round-the-clock shifts to remove the sargassum from the beaches.
