Costa Maya, Q.R. — Residents of Xcalak are demanding the immediate removal of sargassum from their beaches after a mass fish death. On Saturday, resident Lázaro Valentina Gracias López shared photos of the ecological disaster believed the result of sargassum.
Residents have requested the installation of anti-sargassum barriers and the urgent collection of the seaweed before it does more damage.
“The Quintana Roo government and the Secretary of Natural Resources need to turn their attention to Xcalak. While they concentrate their efforts on other parts of the state, Xcalak is drowning in sargassum.
“Fish are dying due to the lack of oxygen and the decomposition of the seaweed,” one resident posted.
The coastal community of Xcalak, south of Mahahual in Costa Maya, is facing a severe environmental crisis due to the massive influx of sargassum. While residents have tried to remove the arriving seaweed on their own, they say they cannot keep up.
Dead fish have begun showing up in coastal areas where arriving sargassum remains in the water. Specimens of finfish, crustaceans, and other marine species can be seen floating along the shoreline, trapped in the dense layer of vegetation that prevents oxygenation of the water, causing the fish to suffocate.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, excessive sargassum can cause massive fish die-offs by suffocation. Large masses of sargassum that are left floating near shores consume the water’s dissolved oxygen as it decays, essentially choking the trapped marine life.
The decaying sargassum left along the coast literally creates a temporary “dead zone”, they said.
Local fishermen say many of their boats remain stranded because the thick concentration of sargassum on the shore hinders navigation and fishing.
Residents said despite the efforts of community brigades to manually remove the incoming sargassum, the speed at which it continues to arrive exceeds their manual capability to remove it.
