Cancun, Q.R. — Cancun Mayor Ana Paty Peralta says more than 300 people head to the city’s public beaches daily to remove sargassum. She says that in Cancun, beaches are in optimal condition since sargassum is collected every day.
“We have a workforce of 340 employees, but in the event of a massive grounding, we will increase that number by 150 at Playa Delfines and 10 at Playa Marlín, Playa Chac Mool, and Playa Ballenas,” she said during a recent strategy meeting.
Peralta says the city also has additional tools to add to the additional manpower if needed. The city of Cancun has seven sweepers, seven tractors, three backhoes and eight 14-cubic-meter dump trucks among other equipment.
To deal with the arrival of seaweed, crews are out in shifts organized between the General Directorate of Public Services, the Directorate of Ecology, the Secretariat of Ecology and Environment (SEMA), the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat) and the Secretariat of the Navy.
During the coming months when greater amounts are expected, larger cleanup brigades will be deployed. She said they have proposed anti-sargassum barriers be placed on Playa El Niño and Las Perlas to help stop the seaweed from reaching shore.
Peralta emphasized that the final destination of sargassum is also being addressed. It is currently deposited in the old landfill, but there is a project to activate a new cell at the Comprehensive Waste Processing Center (Cipres) for more appropriate disposal.
