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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 3 May 2022

Mexico Caribbean beaches may see worst sargassum since 2018

By MARK STEVENSON teams of rakes, shovels and much of the Riveria Maya
Associated Press wheelbarrows are no lon- has been hit hard.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexi- ger enough. Carlos Joaquin, governor
can authorities say the "The heavy machinery, of the coastal state of Quin-
problem of foul-smelling when it picks it (sargassum) tana Roo, said the number
seaweed-like algae on the up, takes a large amount of tourists arriving by air so
country's Caribbean coast of sand with it," contribut- far this year — some 3.54
beaches is "alarming." ing to beach erosion, Rodri- million travelers — is 1.27%
The arrival of heaps of guez Martinez said. "There above 2019 levels, before
brown sargassum on the is so much sargassum that the pandemic. But Joa-
coast's normally pristine you can't use small-scale quin said that only about
white sand beaches comes equipment anymore, you 83% of the 98,000 jobs lost
just as tourism is recovering have to use the heavy stuff, during the pandemic have
to pre-pandemic levels, and when the excava- returned. Sergio León, the
though job recovery in the tors come in, they remove former head of the state's A boat floats on the water, surrounded by sargassum, a
country's top tourist desti- more sand." employers' federation, said seaweed-like algae, in Bahia La Media Luna, near Akumal in
Quintana Roo state, Mexico, Aug. 5, 2018.
nation has been slower. Rodríguez Martinez worries the seaweed invasion "has Associated Press
With more algae spotted that 2022 could be worse definitely affected us, it has
floating out at sea, experts than the previous peak affected our image on the bricks or fertilizer, the lack area of the Atlantic off
fear that 2022 could be as year. "In the last few days domestic and international of official policies and long the northern coast of Bra-
bad or worse than the cat- there have been amounts level. Obviously, not just term plans make it hard to zil, near the mouth of the
astrophic year of 2018, the washing up, and in places, visually, but in term of en- obtain big investments for Amazon River. Increased
biggest sargassum wave to that I didn't see even in vironmental damage and such plans. nutrient flows from defor-
date. "We can say the cur- 2018," she said. pain." "The Navy is making Initial reports in the 2010s estation or fertilizer runoff
rent situation is alarming," However, the University an effort, but it needs more, suggested the masses of could be feeding the al-
said Navy Secretary José of South Florida Optical it isn't enough," said León. seaweed came from an gae bloom.q
Ojeda, who has been en- Oceanography Lab said "The ideal thing would be
trusted with the apparently in a report that "2022 is to gather it before it gets to
hopeless task of trying to likely going to be another our beaches."
gather sargassum at sea, moderate or major sargas- Rodriguez Martinez said
before it hits the beaches. sum year," with observable that, given the limited num-
The Navy currently has 11 amounts in all waters lower ber of Navy boats and
sargassum-collecting boats than in 2018 and 2021. funds, the best solution
operating in the area. But But given the vagaries of might be to hang floating
the Navy's own figures ocean currents, it may just offshore barriers and col-
show that the portion they be a very bad year for lect the sargassum in wa-
have been able to collect Mexico. Rodríguez Martinez ters closer to the shore.
before it hits the beach has is already suffering the ef- But she notes another prob-
been falling. fects herself, at her beach- lem: what to do with the
In 2020, the Navy collected side offices. thousands of tons of stink-
4% of sargassum at sea, "Where I am, I'm about 50 ing algae collected each
while 96% was raked off meters (yards) from the year, mainly by private
beaches. But that figure fell beach and the smell is hotel owners. Some have
to 3% in 2021 and about 1% very unpleasant," she said. simply been tossing the
so far in 2022. "Right now my head is hurt- mounds collected from the
Allowing the algae to ing and another friend said beach into disused lime-
reach the beaches cre- her head hurts, and I said stone quarries, where the
ates not only a problem for it must be the (hydrogen) salt and minerals collected
tourists, but for the environ- sulfide gas from the sargas- in the ocean can leech
ment, said Rosa Rodríguez sum, no?" into groundwater.
Martínez, a biologist in the The problem comes just as Other simply toss into
beachside town of Puerto resorts like Cancun, Playa woodlands or mangrove
Morelos who studies reefs del Carmen and Tulm are swamps, which is equally
and coastal ecosystems for recovering from the brutal as bad.
Mexico's National Autono- two-year drop in tourism "The algae has a lot of salt
mous University. caused by the coronavirus ... so that is not good, even
So much algae is reaching pandemic. Not all beach- for palm trees, which are
the beaches that hotels es have been hit equally; pretty salt resistant," she
and local authorities are many in Cancun and Isla noted.
using bulldozers and back- Mujeres are often free While some have tried to
hoes, because the normal of much sargassum, but use sargassum to create