Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — Playa del Carmen Mayor Estefanía Mercado says her administration is facing one of the most intense sargassum season in years. Mercado says they have removed more than 8,000 tons of sargassum from Playa del Carmen beaches this year with assistance from Marina personnel.
Samantha Álvarez, Playa del Carmen’s Secretary of Environment and Climate Change, says weather conditions, particularly the entry of southeasterly winds, have intensified the grounding of seaweed severely affecting areas such as El Recodo and Punta Esmeralda where equipment is operating continuously.
“El Recodo is a hotspot. There’s a washout every year, but this one has been more intense. We’re operating at 100 oercent capacity,” Álvarez said. Currently, more than 100 people are working along the coast of Playa del Carmen with machinery to remove the sargassum. Workers include municipal personnel, state brigades and 50 marina personnel as well as specialized machinery and maritime sargassum vessels provided by the state.
According to Álvarez, the continuous seaweed removal operation has required a “titanic human effort”. Álvarez says 2022 was the municipality’s heaviest sargassum season to date with more than 37.5 tons collected.
“It’s a phenomenon we face every year in varying degrees. We won’t stop. We continue working with constant operations and new massive cleanup campaigns,” she said.
She reported that since 2019, the amount of sargassum collected in Playa del Carmen has been as follows:
- 2019: 23,000 tons
- 2020: 9,760 tons
- 2021: 21,112 tons
- 2022: 37,533 tons (highest peak)
- 2023: 26,351 tons
- 2024: 13,663 tons
- 2025 (until May): 8,000 tons
She says the Municipal Government reaffirms its commitment to keeping Playa del Carmen’s coast clean to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for tourists and residents while also protecting coastal ecosystems, an effort that requires coordination, resources and consistency.
Two days of strong winds have forced the arrival of even more sargassum onto the state’s coast. According to Rodrigo de la Peña, the President of the Cancún, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres Hotel Association, Puerto Morelos has also been hit particularly hard where the beaches have been severely affected in recent weeks.
“It’s tremendous. We have barges working off the coast and machines on some beaches but some of the hotels don’t allow machinery because they are located within natural parks which forces us to do all the work by hand,” he said.
Part of the issue is the two to three kilometers of barrier installed off Puerto Morelos, which is the only beach section kept relatively clear of arriving seaweed. Hotels outside the barrier have had their beaches inundated with sargassum that has not been fully collected.
De la Peña said the association is requesting special permits to allow the use of light machinery in those areas which would allow for faster cleaning of the washed up sargassum.
