Tulum, Q.R. — Zofemat Tulum is looking to hire at least 35 more personnel to add to their current beach cleaning numbers. The Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat), who is responsible for clearing the coast’s sand of washed up seaweed, says they have started hiring to fill the need for the temporary positions.
The federal government jobs being offered through Zofemat (Zona Federal Marítimo Terrestre) include the task of sargassum and solid waste removal as well as general maintenance of the coastal strip. The Tulum Zofemat goal is to keep the beaches, a main tourist attraction, in optimal condition.
The temporary positions pay 11,000 pesos ($580.00 USD approximately) per month. Juan Antonio Garza, the Director of Zofemat Tulum, says they have already started hiring to fill the need for the last three months of the municipality’s sargassum season.
Money for the extra beach cleaning personnel came in July with the announcement of an additional four million pesos being allocated to sargassum maintenance. Upfront, Antonio Garza says 35 people will be hired although the number could increase as the program progresses and sargassum removal efforts strengthen, especially during peak tourist seasons.
According to the Government of Mexico, in 2019 when the government realized sargassum was here to stay and the General Sargassum Response Plan by Semar (Secretaría de Marina-Armada) began, that year, 1,843 people participated in the clearing of sargassum from Mexican Caribbean beaches.
While many sargassum beach cleans now include Marina personnel and volunteers, there is a steady form of employment through the federal government (Zofemat) that hires people on a seasonal basis to remove sargassum. Hotels also hire their own beach cleaning staff to keep the water and sand in front of their properties clear of seaweed.
While there is no exact figure available due to seasonal fluctuations, sargassum clearing has created thousands of jobs in the coastal areas of Quintana Roo. For the most part, the number of physical bodies has increased over the years as more sargassum arrives and more money is allocated to deal with it.
Job figures related directly to the collection of sargassum will increase further with the completion of the state’s first Comprehensive Sargassum Sanitation and Circular Economy Centre. The first Centre is currently under construction in the Cancun Hotel Zone and will be used as a long-term solution that will see the seaweed turned into biofuel, among other products.
The hope is not only to productively use the problem seaweed, but to also recoup some of the millions spent on sargassum maintenance over the years.
