Riviera Maya, Q.R. — The director of the Sargasso Monitoring Network says that this year, the state will continue to see greater arrivals of seaweed than in recent years, with an abundance forecast for the southern regions into September.
Esteban Amaro Mauricio, director of the Sargasso Monitoring Network says that for this reason, the state needs to establish greater preventive strategies and work less on reactive strategies. He says greater effort needs to be taken to begin working on preventing the seaweed from reaching the coast rather than waiting for it to land, then begin cleanup.
“This happens year after year. It seems the experience we had has not worked. The reaction of authorities is reactive rather than preventive. We should start the year with the appropriate measures to contain sargassum, but we always start in the middle, when we already have mounds of it,” he said.
In an interview with Grupo Sipse, he said that this year, one of the arrival records was broken and that “we just finished July” noting that August is generally a month of greater abundant.
“The satellite images show that we will have sargassum until September and possibly until October,” he said.
Due to the geographical location of some beaches, those in the south such as Xcalak, Mahahual and the Sian ka’an Biosphere Reserve is where coastal currents will carry the most sargassum, along with the eastern part of Cozumel, Tulum and Playa del Carmen.
“The northernmost municipalities of the state such as Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Lázaro Cárdenas (Holbox) are where there is less impact,” he said.
Unlike in 2018 when Cancun did very badly, he said that this time, it will not be due to the conditions of the marine currents and prevailing winds.
