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Manual efforts removes more than 4,000 tons of sargassum from Playa del Carmen beaches this month

Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — Already this month, more than 4,000 tons of sargassum has been removed from Playa del Carmen beaches. The manual removal of the arriving seaweed has been collected by paid city workers and by volunteers.

Each day, seaweed collectors head to a planned area where they spend their hours lifting seaweed from the water onto land then into trucks from where it is hauled away. In a statement from Playa del Carmen City Council, they said that the seaweed did not have an effect on tourism.

Solidaridad City Council reported a 90 percent hotel occupancy rate in the municipality during the recently-ended Easter holiday season. These are figures, the City pointed out, that have not been seen since 2019.

In their statement, City Council also stated a part of the problem with the arriving seaweed lies in the unfinished installation of barriers. Weeks of extreme winds have prevented Navy personnel from completing the installation of the at-sea sargassum barriers.

Over the weekend, although seaweed landfall was minimal, both paid workers and volunteers were shoveling. Minor offenders who have chosen sargassum duty over a fine or jail time have also been part of the municipal cleaning efforts.